HEY! Family pictures on a Thursday.

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Hey! It's my family!

Look and scroll and scroll and look.

Without further adieu : family pictures. Taken in under thirty minutes. In seven degree weather.

Woop, there it is!

Also scrolling through these pictures makes me wonder what I should do with my hair? Grow it out? Chop it off? Color it darker? Lighter? ...also these pictures make me miss my family. Because I do have a heart. Ha.

i'm sorry, but more michigan.

whew-wee. 

we are back to the great state of utah, where diet dr. pepper is abundant + the air smells like tanning beds. also, yes. i used that joke on my instagram. sue me! it's been quite the day of travels and i even got patted down by a tsa agent because my chesticles came up as high danger. she used the back of her hand + laughed when i said that she had to 'wine and dine' me first...also i used that joke on my instagram, too. i'm running out of material here people!

but promise! promise! promise! i am mostly, completely done with the michigan posts. promise. it's just i feel that it is such an under-appreciated place. it's the zac of the united states of america. and yes, i am making a bachelorette reference because i am finally catching up and no! zac went home! lip quivering. how is drew lasting this long? is anyone getting feminine vibes?
...hashtag : team brooks.

onwards! i just want to remember my time in michigan, okay? the midwest gets such a bad-wrap. just like zac! i mean, c'mon dez. he may have looked a bit leprechaun-esque in the first few episodes but he really came around...

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wee little moments : the cutest baby child, kaylin. kallin? kay - lynn. 

mackinac beach + heidi, stephen, and baby timmy.

mackinac island! pronounced macinaaaaw. 

baby timmy meeting (great!) grandma king. give me a bebe.

mmm...mean muggin'.

king + stapleton boys.

horse bum.

awww! ferry rides and bebes. my heart.

marlee + kaylynn? kallin? kaylin! 

struggling, struggling. always struggling. 

riding tandem around this pretty island with my jeffy boo. it may sound romantic but holy !!! tandem bikes scare the jeebers out of me. 

about how everyone felt after an 8 mile bike ride on a fairly empty stomach. hanger is real, man. also : smiley kevin! he just came back from his mission and is single and super nice and yes, i'm pimping him out. leave your number in the comments, please and thanks. 

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happy monday, friends!

more michigan! and casinos, too.

a disclaimer : vacation posts are tha worst. i am so very aware. just a whole lot of scrolling. but indulge me? i'm trying to launch a social media campaign on my very lonesome for michigan in the summer. just kidding, slightly. but dudes, it is something of a dream! a dream, i tell you!

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now, on to today : today we went on to the actual rez. am i allowed to say that? i don't know entirely so i am assuming...yes? question mark? onwards! the rez!

the casino + resort were so. dang. nice. no stray dogs or anything! like, mouth to the floor. i think they had three golf courses which seems kind of excessive but who is stopping them? also the resort had all these cute shops and restaurants and a spacious bathroom with comfy toilet seats where i spent most all of my time because cherries, duh.

their 'mascot' ... guys i think i am breeching a lot of politically correct rules here, but shoot! i'm lost! ... or spirit animal? tribe animal? theeeeere we go : let's stick with tribe animal! anyways, it's the turtle. slow and steady is winning this race, baby.

cherries! everywhere! and yes, cherries + the runs do, in fact, go hand-in-hand ;)

a little ma-and-pa store where they sold the most delicious cherry pie to date. also i am not entirely sure if it is a ma-and-pa store, all i know is that a girl working their called one of her coworkers mom? so...maybe? ma-and-pa it is!

now how'd i get talking about cherries! back to the casino!
but first:

that is literally a kid in a candy store. you see what i did there? heh? heh? 

they kicked me out of the picture because i'm white. it's whatever. just kidding ;). i volunteered to play family photographer which is more than fortunate because, let's face it, i have a strong affinity to dress like a butch in humidity. 

also what is jeff doing with that leg pop thing? bless that boy and his sweet little face.

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elk river with da family.

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i went to idaho this past week. didn't i tell you? 

of course i didn't. because i'm the queen of irish exits. no but really i am! our home teacher in our last ward even told me so after we kind of just quietly and secretly moved into another apartment building one weekend. goodbyes are hard, you know? 

anyways! yes! twelve hours up to good ol' idaho. twelve hours by my lonesome. in a car. listening to a book on tape and having far too much time to think about things like the state of my cuticles and who is desiree going to pick this week?! (do we like brooks or do we not like brooks? these are the things i can't decide...)

but you know what? it was so worth it. what a vacation. i would say much-needed vacation but...i really didn't need it all that much. summer time living is pretty easy in these parts. hashtag humble brag. i didn't even set an alarm the whole five days i was there! and really just filled my days with long walks and diet dr. pepper runs to the new swanky gas station. because those are the type of things that makes moscow so...moscow-y. 

but elk river. oh, elk river. i halfway hope that i am a bystander to an awful crime and have to be in the witness protection program and relocate to that cute little town with almost 150 people. almost. 

phew! lots of photos. 

miss my family and miss my idaho already.

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(...a scroll-able post) california! in pictures!

this past week i was in california sans my jeffrey (he had school and adult-obligations...blergh!). it's funny how quickly i revert back to a ten-year-old child when i'm around my family. actually, it's probably more concerning than funny. it's like as soon as i hug my parents i forget how to do my own laundry and feed myself...and hold my own around my sassy eleven-year-old sister. ha.

we did disneyland for the first two (that's right aching calves, two!) days. you guys, the world of color light show reduced me to tears and squealing fits. it was amaze. the days following we putted around newport beach, went to my cousin's wedding, and stuffed our faces silly. one night, us ladies drove for nearly an hour trying to track down a sprinkles cupcakes...only to land up on a street cluttered with street bars in beverly hills. heh? my last day there was perhaps my favorite. we really didn't do anything besides walk, eat, and take pictures. my type of day!

anyways, feel free to scroll, scroll, scroll. or don't. the amount of effort i am putting into this post is a clear indicator that it is, in fact, monday and i am, in fact, suffering from post-vacation depression. ain't it the worst?

 

and done! i miss my family and the warm weather already.

the front camera was the worst thing that ever happened to me. also, i'm a narcissist i guess?

so here's the skinny: i positively hate every picture of myself. have you seen that friends episode where chandler's smile becomes completely unnatural every time any one tries to take a picture? that's me. i suck in my nose, curl under my upper lip, and get these crazy eyes that make me look like a savage woman. no, but seriously.

however, i love the front camera. love it. due to my high fiber diet and the fact that i am three-fourths allergic to everything, i spend a lot of time in the bathroom. please, please; don't feel sorry for me! i've gotten used to it! i read blogs, play games (play me in scramble with friends?), and most importantly, take selfies.

and here is my stockpile (mind you, this is just since september...):

(i was trying to cheat the celebrity face matcher and look like hermoine granger here. fail.)

(the pepsi? my running shoes? the giant apple? i have an obsession for kissing things...?)

...i know, i know! your eyes have rolled so many times they are now in orbit. is that a thing? can that be a thing? i don't actually know what my obsession is. but it's out of control. intervention, please? or not?