This is Halloween.

Hello beautiful internet users. Welcome. Let's backtrack to last weekend which was HALLOWEEN aka the greatest holiday aka the beginning of the best time of year aka one super crazy fun night. 

I worked until 5, poopy, but then I rushed home and started getting ready! I had been planning my Katy Perry costume for so long. I ordered the wig in August and spent countless hours shopping for and making my shirt and tutu. I usually don't get that into Halloween, but I am very passionate about respecting Katy Perry so I felt I needed to do her justice. I got ready and put more glitter on my eyelids than I previously thought was possible. Then Sydney took some rocking model photos of me outside our house. Here are the best ones, in my humble opinion. 

Baby you're a firework. 

Once everyone was ready and Caroline and Jared were at our house, we all went over to Chipotle to get our $3 booritos! This is one holiday tradition I have definitely gotten behind. I love any excuse to go to Chipotle and to get a steak burrito with guac on it for only $3 is a miracle! So worth the wait in line. 

Wait....who knew Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Kesha would all be at Chipotle?

Apparently Hulk Hogan was spotted that night as well. 

And we bumped into a robber (NOT a burglar)

Then we went off to the dance and it was crazy fun, as always. Even Prince showed up and performed for us!

The DJ played Firework by Katy Perry which meant that everyone pushed me up on stage and I ended up giving a rocking lip sync performance. Craziness! Then they announced the costume contest winners and .......I WON! I won the prize for the singles costume contest which means I get a month of dollar lunch for free! Super exciting and it felt good to know that my hard work and money paid off. We got home and immediately crashed after partying so hard. 

The next morning we got up bright and early (at like 8 haha) and got ready to head up Mt. Lemmon with our dear friend Isaac. For those of you who don't know, 1320 started an annual Christmas card last year, with Isaac being our photographer. He is so good and professional and very affordable! We pay him in food. I don't have access to all of the pictures yet, nor do I want to ruin the surprise so I'm only including a couple. 

While on the mountain we stopped at the Cookie Cabin which had the world's best giant cookies and some normal tasting and sized pizza. 

And here is your one sneak preview at our fall-themed Christmas card photoshoot!

The week progressed just as any other week except for Wednesday. I have decided to clue you guys in on a painful experience of mine. Let's get some context first. I have super incredibly sensitive skin. I have been shaving for like 10 years, but I constantly develop horrible rashes. I've tried shaving, waxing, Nair, epillators, etc. NOTHING WORKED. I am also extremely hairy, so leaving my legs to run wild isn't a very good option. I visited the dermatologist this summer and they gave me two creams to apply to my legs twice a day. These creams cleared my legs up in a day or two, but they said laser hair removal would be the most permanent option. This has been such an issue in my life (as seemingly insignificant as it sounds) and my parents are so amazing that they agreed to buy me a Groupon for laser hair removal for my 20th birthday. My birthday isn't until February, but the treatments can take up to a year so it's an early gift.

 I went in for my first treatment in August having no idea what to expect. Dang did it hurt! It took a full hour and I was writhing in pain the whole time. After the treatment, my hair growth was stopped for a week or two. Then I started the shedding process (gross, I know). The hairs look like they are trapped under the skin but if you exfoliate they all come out. Then there were a glorious few weeks of absolutely no hair. I felt like a Chinese crested. But then the next cycle of hair growth started and I had leg hair again. For those of you who are curious, your hair grows in 3 cycles which means it takes at least 3 treatments to stop the hairs from growing back. These treatments are around 8-10 weeks apart but it differs from person to person. 

I went back for my second treatment on Wednesday and I was brave enough to ask if I could use my phone during the treatment (I thought the laser might zap my phone into oblivion). Luckily, I was able to use it so I could distract myself from the pain and also take some lovely photos. Oh my goodness gracious this time hurt so much more than last time. I walked out of the building shaking from being in so much pain. Luckily this treatment only took around 35 minutes. 

Here are my beautiful glasses to save my eyes from the laser. 

Here is the evil contraption the lady uses on your hairs. The marks on my legs are how they section your body off so they know which parts they have already gone over. 

And....what I look like immediately after. Don't worry, I've been assured that this reaction is what it's supposed to look like and it means my body is taking to the laser well. And the redness goes down after fifteen minutes or so. 

After that painful ordeal, I went home and met up with Syd. I took her to Chipotle for her early birthday surprise and then I took her to go see Flashdance on campus! Last year we were in a Theatre Appreciation class and we were required to go to plays on campus so this is kind of our thing. Plus who doesn't love a good musical? Especially one with 80s music in it. It was so amazing! I'm so glad we went. 

Last night there was a Relief Society dinner that Lauren organized and ran and it was so delicious! And I am always extremely grateful for a free meal. Today is the start of Homecoming weekend and the Richardsons are coming to town! We are going to an event for Brother Richardson's old fraternity and then tomorrow, my mom is coming to town before the game! I am so excited for this weekend and to finally see someone in my family after being away since August. Bear Down!!!!

You've had a birthday, shout hooray!

Guys. It's that time of year where the time flies by so freaking fast. Like I don't even know what has happened to October but it's basically over. Since time is flying so fast, I feel like I hardly remember what I have done for the past week or so, but I will try my hardest to recount that information.

On Monday we had FHE and we built some AWESOME candy sculptures. We were divided into teams and either though the other team won, I think our sculpture was still absolutely beautiful.

On Tuesday I had school and work as usual, and then Syd and I went shopping for some stuff for our Halloween costumes :)

Wednesday night there was school and work again. Shocker.

Thursday's math class was pretty cool though! We have been doing a lot of stuff using manipulatives and on Thursday we got to use pattern blocks. The dividers in the container the blocks were in were sliding all around and not clicked into place. That drove me insane! So I took out all of the blocks and spent a good chunk of class reorganizing the blocks so they were all color coordinated. After they were all color coded, doing the problems was so much easier and I was able to finish with extra time to make some beautiful art pieces! I'll start selling them on Etsy pretty soon. Obviously.

On Friday I did a bunch of stuff around the house and got my Halloween costume done! It looks awesome and I can't wait to show everyone!!! 

Saturday morning I drove up to Mesa for my main homegirl Avery's birthday party. For months she has been inviting everyone to her Elsa party and I am SO happy I was able to come. She is so super sassy and I had so much fun hanging with the four year olds. Brought me back to San Ramon where I am a party planner all summer. So much fun! 

Here's Avery and her boyfriend's little brother. Getting chummy with the fam. 

I had my first Bahama Bucks during the party! Which was pretty darn good. I'll definitely be going back whenever I'm in Mesa! It's also a Texas thing so maybe I'll hit it up over Christmas break. 

Avery refused to pose normally for a picture, but we love her for that. Super sassy. 

There happened to be a snowball fight, and lemme just tell you, homegirl in the pigtails had quite the arm. She is going to be a pro softball player. 

The party was so much fun and I'm so happy the Richardsons invited me to go! Tomorrow I get to register for my final two classes and then I KNOW this week will fly by even faster than last week. Friday is Halloween, Saturday we are taking roomie pictures, and then the week after that is Homecoming and when my mom is coming to visit! So many exciting things coming up, and I can't wait!!! 

Praise the Pumpkins

Sooo on Friday after classes Syd and I partied it up on the way to Phoenix. We were going to the open house which was super amazing! It was beautiful and such a cool experience. I feel so lucky to have been able to go to not only the Gilbert open house, but also the Phoenix one! So beautiful. 

Temples are the bessssssst. 

The whole gang. 

After the temple we went to Zupa's for dinner and it was delicious! Zupa's is one of my favorite places. So yummy!

I spent the weekend at the Richardson's and it was a party as always. On Saturday we headed over to Schnepf Farm for their annual pumpkin and chili festival. It was so awesome! They had a pumpkin patch, rides, county fair attractions, and more. 

Along the way we stopped for gas and caffeine and I found this beautiful car. 

At the Farm we got to go see the pumpkins! I'm not a HUGE fan of pumpkin flavored foods so I had to express my white girl powers with the pumpkin patch. 

And a classic Steph Shaw pose. 

The gang joined in after seeing how adorable I was. 

There was a sign that looked like it would have facts about bees on it and there ended up being absolutely NOTHING under the flaps. It was so incredibly disappointing. 

However, there were some awesome sunflowers to take pictures with as well.

The farm was so fun and I was so glad that I was able to go with the Richardsons! They are always having a super fun awesome party time there. It was great to go up to Mesa to get away but now we are back to reality! And school is going to be over before we know it. I am shocked that this semester is already over halfway through with. After Thanksgiving break it is just going to fly by! 

Turn around bright eyes.

Well blogging world, I've done it again! (By "it" I mean go an entire month without blogging.) I figured some of you would be curious as to what I've been up to (MOM) and I was also given a class assignment to make 3 blog posts on a blog so that was my extra push. 

So since my last blog post, I've been doing a lot of school and work. The usual. But let's skip to the exciting stuff!!

The Friday before General Conference (October 3) I flew off to Salt Lake City! I had booked a shuttle to take me from the airport straight to BYU. However, my flight was delayed about 15 minutes so my shuttle left without me. They said I could wait another hour and take the next shuttle but I was impatient and mad at them. Plus I wanted to get to BYU before the football game. So I hopped on a train and hoped for the best! It ended up taking me around 2 hours to get to BYU. While I was on the Front Runner, I got a text from Dallin saying that he had just received his mission call in his mailbox! I almost died and fell off the train. As soon as the train arrived in Provo, the Slavens picked me up from the train station and we headed on over to Swig for the mission call opening. 

For those of you who don't know the Slavens well, Dallin's father went to Anaheim, California Spanish speaking and his older brother went to Twin Falls, Idaho Spanish speaking. So we were all prepared for stateside, Spanish speaking. Imagine our surprise when Dallin opens up his call and it's to FREAKING CAMBODIA! So that was basically the craziest thing in the entire world.

 

Still shaking in disbelief and excitement haha. After all the excitement, we headed over to grab some pizza and then we went to the football game. We only made it through halftime, but that's ok because BYU still ended up losing. 

 

The next morning we got up and hung out for a few hours. Then we picked up Dallin from his dorm, went to Flags N Stuff, and proceeded to buy every single thing in the store that had Cambodia on it (don't worry, I got a keychain). Then we drove off to South Salt Lake City where Olan Rogers (famous YouTube comedian and my personal idol) was having a meetup. When we got there, we found a line a mile long with people who had been waiting for over three hours. Since we had to rush off to Priesthood session, we decided to just take selfies with Olan from afar. While we were watching all of the diehard fans who had been there all day greeting Olan, I struck up a conversation with a security guard, explaining that we only had ten minutes to spend in the park. He talked to one of Olan's consultants and she asked the people in the front of the line if we could cut them, and they said yes!!!! So we got to go straight to the front of the line and personally meet Olan Rogers. As if that wasn't good enough, Olan's cameraman loved Dallin's dance moves (who doesn't) and filmed him dancing and later interviewed the whole group. 

 

We also picked up Olan Rogers. 

 

While the big boys went to Priesthood session, the ladies and children shopped around City Creek Center and ate some food. Then we got the boys and headed off to the world's scariest corn maze. I was so terrified. It was WAY scarier than Tucson's Terror in the Corn. 

The following morning we went to Salt Lake City again and walked around Temple Square. We bumped into the ONLY Cambodian Sister Missionary there. Which was crazy because we had been looking for her all weekend. She was so cute!!! Then we went to the PM session of Conference and it was amazing as always. 

 

After Conference, I was taken straight to the airport and flew back to Phoenix so I could be back to school on Monday. 

So this past week was my best friend Elmer Jay's birthday week! It was also a special week since it was his last week in Tucson!!! On Tuesday we had a birthday dinner at Native New Yorker as a surprise party and the turnout was awesome! He was so shocked. 

I spent the rest of the week filming people and then editing like crazy for EJ's birthday video. I seriously used every spare minute of free time to edit this dang video. I don't even remember showering or sleeping during that week. It was totally worth it in the end though (don't worry mom, I still did my homework first). 

On Friday I had to work until 5 and then I went straight home to prep for the party! It was a superb success. 

 

Lots of karaoke, as per usual. 

 

Saturday we went to Meet the Mormons in the morning (much better than I thought, everyone go see it!) and then headed off to the game. Excuse my messy hair in the following picture. Like I said, barely had time to shower this week. 

The game was surely a nail biter, and while it was a bummer that we lost, we played super well and I'm actually glad we lost because being undefeated puts too much pressure on the team in my opinion. 

 

After the game we had yet another party for EJ's going away at the house. Complete with delicious cupcakes (thanks mama Richardson). Tucson will miss having EJ (so will I...) but he is only a 2 hour drive away and we will still be seeing each other often! So all is well. 

 

XOXO Gossip Squirrel

Turtle love.

Another week down!! Monday and Tuesday were pretty much the same as usual. Except for the fact that there was no school on Monday! So you know that me, Syd, and Lauren went to the mall to hit up the Labor Day sales. Don't worry, we were very successful. Tuesday was back to the grind for everyone. Then on Wednesday, we went to school like normal and in the evening we had a special guest arrive! Bekah Jo is back in town and staying at 1320 for ten days. EJ and I went to the airport to pick her up and then we picked up the roomies and co. and went to Taco Bell. On Thursday we all went to class while Bekah went to a million and one Institute classes. That night we went to Outback to have a true Aussie experience. According to Bekah though, nothing there is very Australian. On Friday night, Bekah decided she wanted to go stargazing so we drove out to a random mountain and attempted to stargaze. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so there weren't many stars, but the city lights were beautiful. Then we went to 7-11 and got Slurpees. 

Saturday!!! So for those of you who didn't already know this, the first baby elephant born in Arizona arrived on August 20th at 10:55 pm. She is the cutest thing in the world and I have been dying to see her. I honestly cried a few times when she was brought up and when we drove past the zoo. The zoo is roughly six minutes away from our house and yet I had never been there. So Bekah, Syd, and I woke up early and ventured off to the Reid Park Zoo. It. Was. Amazing. 

Hello Mr. Giraffe. 

They had so much elephant paraphernalia I was in heaven. 

Seriously in heaven. 

Whilst at the zoo, we encountered some turtles who were "fighting" with each other. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that turtle moans are ridiculous. They are so loud and low and grotesque. 

Here's the large turtle after an unsuccessful attempt at mating. 

Here is a nice little llama. 

#models

We also fed giraffes and it was a beautiful and glorious moment. 

After the zoo we had some Smashburger and went home to relax for a little bit. Then we headed out into the rain to drive up Mt. Lemmon. This is my favorite activity of the year and this one did not disappoint at all!

The beezies plus Bekah. 

Ryan found a cutie little frog thing. 

Overcast selfies are everyone's fave. 

As are group rock pictures. 

It was so much fun and we danced the night away in the mountains. Good food, good company, good music, good atmosphere. Overall a great, great, great time. 

Sunday: We went to church like normal. During sacrament meeting I took a phone call from my dad. I've been debating how to address this on my blog, but I just don't really know quite how. I didn't want to sound dramatic or cold or whiney or anything. I debated not putting this on the blog at all but I felt as though it deserved to go there. On Sunday morning our sweet Great Dane was put down. She has been getting old for a few years, but still doing fine. Over the past few days however, her organs started shutting down and my parents could tell that it was just her time to go, so they brought her in to the vet. It's hard to talk about this and hard to explain it to others outside of my family. In my family, pets are just like any other family member, if not even more important. 

We got Jozi from a breeder in Johannesburg (her namesake city) while living abroad. She provided us with much joy and laughter in South Africa. She scared our little maid Joanna, she stole the Thanksgiving turkey at just 10 months old, and she hid in the bathtub from our 9 pound cat. She travelled with us across the globe to San Ramon where her and Ozzie played outside, roughhoused, and created a spectacle wherever we went. With her passing, not only did Dewey lose a friend and we lost a family member, but all of those memories that our family shared have come to an end. She was a part of our lives during the most dynamic, troubling, joyous, and formative years. She will be missed and her memories will be cherished forever. 

Thank you for all of the love, slobber, and laughs, Jozi. 

Grateful Dead

Haha jk. Day one of the Grateful challenge. (5 days of three different things you're grateful for).

1. Diet Coke. My one and only true love that no man will ever be able to rival.

2. My family: for loving me unconditionally and supporting me no matter what I do (even if I decide to do something crazy like switch religions). They are my rock and my ride or die no matter what.

3. The opportunities that I have had to travel the world and learn about other cultures. While living in Johannesburg I was able to travel so much and it truly has helped me become who I am today. I love travelling and I will never stop!

(PS this picture is of me at the London Olympics so yes it's relevant)