Bryce and McKenzie Ricks

Summer's over...time to hit the books

2011-09-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic summer! Here are some highlights from out favorite season!

Anniversary Flowers! on Aug 25th we celebrated our 4th Anniversary! I REALLY cannot believe it's been 4 years, time is flying and we are loving every minute of it!

We went to the US Open of Surfing down in Huntington Beach. Always, a fun event.

We dressed up as Nerds for our friend Sean's birthday.

Had a bonfire and it was cold!

I got to work with this group of characters all summer....

...while hanging out with these adorable kiddos

Girls Camp 2011!

Hey! Remember that time that I bought a new curling iron and it BURNT my hair off. Yeah. that really happened. I have filed a claim with conair and my curling iron is currently being tested by their engineering department... we'll see if anything comes from it, it was a very sad day indeed.

We welcomed home our family friend, Andrew from his mission in Nebraska.
And we enjoyed another summer wedding season! Congrats to our good friends that got married this summer!

It was all super fun but now we are focusing on school! The first week is over and we are both really loving the masters programs we are in. Yes we are crazy for BOTH going back to school at the same time, but we are definitely in the mindset of GET IT DONE. So that's what we will do. Like I mentioned in a previous post, Bryce is at Chapman getting his MBA with an emphasis in Finance, while I am getting a Masters in Recreation Administration.

Trek 2011

2011-07-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Bryce and I had the amazing opportunity to be "Ma and Pa's" on our stake's youth pioneer trek. We had such a great experience. When we were in the youth program, the stake didn't do treks so we were grateful to be able to go now. We had a great family and we all worked HARD. This experience gave us a very small glimpse into the lives of the early saints and was very touching. Definitely a testimony builder. We faced challenges along the way such as the men being called away to the Mormon Battalion leaving the women to pull the handcarts on our own. Also, the last leg of the Trek was an incredibly steep 1/2 mile incline called Testimony Hill. We met church history characters including Brigham Young, Mary Fielding Smith, Porter Rockwell, and the infamous Gov. Boggs. Between the costumes, vingettes, activities, and physical challenge, history really came alive to the youth of the Long Beach East Stake :)

The Wilderness of So. Cal

Rocking the bonnets

"Pa" Bryce

Me and the "Baby"

Crossing the "Sweet Water River"

"Hole in the Rock"

Mormon Battalion

The Fam :)

Spring Festivities

2011-05-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

We've been busy as always, working hard but also making time for some fun. Back in April, we went to Mexico with our buddies Ricky and Shannon and had a blast. It was so nice to just relax at the beautiful beach.

We tried to get Bryce to do the "Little Mermaid" pose but he refused.

Shuffle Board is NOT just for old people

My MIL Christy was in charge of the Ward Easter Breakfast and did an awesome job. Since I am a close, personal friend of the Easter Bunny, I pulled some strings and got him to make an appearance at the breakfast. :)

We were fonrtunate to spend Easter with the RIJOHNSKY Superfamily. (Ricks, Johnsons and Starkeys) We had an easter egg hunt for the kids, and by kids I mean the grown adult children. We then used the eggs as currency for a prize auction. It was such a fun day. Larry was a great auctioneer

While everyone was in town, we also caught an Angel game. Although the Angels did not show up to play, it was still entertaining since they were playing Boston.

We had one last dinner together before everyone headed back home...

These people are just plain awesome. Balloons are fun.

We also had the opportunity to participate in a service project with our church. We donned the ultra-fabulous yellow vests and set out to clean our local beach. (turns out the beach was pretty darn clean to begin with but every little bit counts right?)After the Clean-up, we checked out the classic car show down the street where Bryce got a pic next to his dream car....This lovely lady had a birthday and turned the big....well, I better not say. Let's just say she looks GOOOD :) My Mama LOVES horses (she grew up with them and such) so we had the fam over for a Kentucky Derby Party, super fun. Intently watching the Derby.... My two adorable nephews. A lot of people have asked how Mitch has been doing (on the left). As you can see, he's back to normal! For those of you who don't know, he gave us a scare back in February and spent some time in the hospital. We are so grateful he was able to pull through and get better...he is such a sweetheart and is so fun to have around. Clay (right) is enjoying the last weeks of his senior year as he gets ready to graduate in June... I love these two!

Of course we have been keeping up with our Disneyland attendance...And there's been no shortage of fun in my calling with the YW.

They are the funnest girls in the world!! Lastly, this weekend, I made some yummy PF Chang-style lettuce wraps. They were delish! Theres a lot of prep work but actually really simple to make. Here's the recipe for those who are interested, Lettuce Wraps. I used extra mushrooms...yum... and made a little extra sauce :)

P.S. That not my pic but thats what they look like, thanks google images.

I hope you're having some springtime fun too!!

Bryce... Back 2 School

2011-04-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

This fall, Bryce is going back to school! He's been accepted to the MBA program at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Bryce is very excited to be getting his masters and we're pumped that he gets to go to such an awesome school! He's doing the full-time program so needless to say, he will be BUSY, but he will have his masters in December 2012! A few weeks ago, we went and walked around the campus (a whole 20min away) with Bryce's parents and brother. Basically, its gorgeous.

A piece of the Berlin Wall on campus

Chapman Panthers!

GOOD LUCK BRYCE!!

Idaho 2011

2011-03-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

We did it! We enjoyed (and survived) another trip to Rexburg to go snowmobiling. We had an absolute blast. Fun people + gorgeous scenery + fast snowmobiles = a great weekend! Here are the pics: We were delighted to have our buds Chris and Kaci join us...they're so much fun!

On Sunday, we took a snow coach through yellowstone and got to see lots of cool stuff. The park was so beautiful!

We saw LOTS of Bison and Elk

And watched Old Faithful erupt

That night, we ate a yummy dinner (thanks Billy) and spent some quality time just hanging with family and friends.

To top it all off, we got to see some of our bestest friends from our Idaho school days, Jeff and Hannah. We love them so much and we finally got to meet their adorable little boy, Mason!

I guess I should mention that the day we left for Idaho (Fri the 18th) was Bryce's 27th birthday! Not only did he get to go on a fabulous trip to ID, but....

He ALSO gets to go see his man-crush (Blake Griffin) in action at a Clippers game! He's pretty excited!

For Journaling Purposes

2011-02-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

Quick recap for ya....

Fun fun superbowl party at the in-laws

Super awesome shower for my Pammi

Bryce on a shooting trip with some of our "children" aka the scouts

We found a new place to "hang" out with friends

I got to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of the CENTURY

Getting jiggy with Just Dance 2 at Christmas

UGLY sweaters at work!The BEST bachelorette weekend ever!

More Ugliness!

Fam time

The Kiddos

A little help....please?

2010-11-09T21:13:00.001-08:00

Remember this girl?

Well, that was ONE year ago..... One year later, I am still all natural in the color dept. and haven't even had a trim (yes I know you're supposed to cut your hair more than once a year, but time just gets away from me) ..... Here we are today....
I love the ease of having short hair but I also love the versalitity of long hair.... So I think it's safe to say that something needs to be done....but the question is "What?" Do I hack it all off again? Do I keep it longer and maybe add some layers or highlights? I really don't know what to do so any help is appreciated.

Stop. Breathe. Blog.

2010-10-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

In my eternal attempt to become a better blogger, I find myself again playing catch-up. So here's the latest...

We moved! (up the street, but still!) We now live in a townhouse with my Mom. We are really enjoying the new place and the three of us are getting along really well (My mom loves Bryce more than me, but I'm OK with that)..... For those of you who are wondering, my Mom is doing very well. We feel very fortunate to be here with her and support her as her health continues to improve. She's an amazing lady and we LOVE her to pieces! For those of you who didn't hear, I quit my job with the CHP. Long story short, It was NOT a positive work environment and my co-workers were less than supportive towards each other. I was bummed that it wasn't what I expected but the experience made me realize how much I LOVE teaching and that sticking-it-out as a substitute for now is in my best interest.

That being said....A week after I quit, I was offered a long-term substitute assignment (good timing huh?). So for the past 6 weeks I have been teaching Adaptive P.E. at 7 different schools and I LOVE IT! Teaching special ed has been an amazing experience with countless rewards. I seriously love my students so much :)

A few weeks ago I got to go with the Youth to do Baptisms for the Dead at the L.A. Temple. It was a wonderful Saturday! We had forty some-odd youth and we even went early to have a picnic and check out the new visitor's center (wich is amazing!) I LOVE my calling!

Even with all of our busy-ness, we have still found time for our sweet, wonderful friends. We were especially excited to see our friends Jeff and Hannah from Idaho! Bryce and Jeff were roomates at BYU-I and we were also in the same married student ward. We were overjoyed to share some Disney magic with them :)

We learned to draw Pluto

Tania's Baby Shower!! We miss the Brunners!

Bryce and I are also both currently coaching volleyball (among other things) for Parks and Rec. and are having so much fun! Unfortunately our teams are in different age divisions so we don't get to have a marital throw-down but it's still super fun. So between subbing and working for Parks and Rec. I have been averaging 50+ hour work weeks... yep, I one tuckered out girl most nights. That's all for now!

Endless Summer

2010-08-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

This has truly been on of the funnest summers ever! We have had a great time with friends and family and are sorry to see this season go but I know the holidays will be here before we know it (they always manage to sneak up on us). Here's what we've done lately....We went to the US Open of Surfing in HB with Pam and Mike...

And saw Kelly Slater :)I said good-bye to Day Camp and my fellow counselors...

Bryce got these...

...I got these....

...and these

To celebrate our 3rd anniversary!! We also went to a yummy dinner at the Fish Company and saw the movie Flipped (super cute)

We got donuts with Sean and Jill at 1:30am

But before the donuts, we saw an awesome band play for Jill's B-day

They are called the Spazmatics and they played some great 80's songs!

We had a yummy dinner at Wokano in

downtown LB (it's 50% off Mon-Thurs!)

We went to the Red Bull Flutag where ordinary poeple build "flying machines" and launch them over a platform to see how far they go....aka HILARIOUS

We welcomed home Elder Johnson :)

And shopped for a WEDDING dress for the Future Mrs. Marengo!!

So Much fun! Unfortunately, our current project is MOVING. For those of you who didn't hear our fun story... As it turns out, the owner of our condo has put it up for sale so we're out. The funny thing is that our place was on the market for 39 days before we found out! And the ONLY reason we found out was because the REALTOR (not our land lord) called to ask if she could take pictures...I was like, "For what?" They told us we could stay until it sold, but it's not fun to live in a condo that is constantly being shown to prospective buyers and what not. So we're bunking up with Bryce's parents while everything with our new

place is finalized....but that's a post in itself!!

Hooray!!

2010-07-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

My amazing, sweet, wonderful friends Ricky and Shannon are GETTING MARRIED! I am SO excited for them! Congrats!

It was such a sweet experience to be there when Ricky proposed! Both of their parents were there and everyone was just so happy! They are so in love!!!
In other news, we have been enjoying our Summer. We officially kicked off the season with a bon fire with some great friends! We roasted so hot dogs and ate delicious s'mores! So much fun!

I also was able to go up to Sacramento for training. I met some really fun people in my class and we had a good time learning together. There were a total of 8 of us from all over the state. Here are a few pictures from our trip to the capitol (and yes, I made a few classmates do High School Musical pictures on the capitol rotunda)

In between my two weeks of training, I got to come home and see my favorite cousin and two of her four adorable kids...I hate living so far from them!

Apparently I needed a reminder of how short I am...thanks Eva :)

And lastly, a while back we had friends over to Bryce's parent's house on Memorial Day weekend for fun in the pool. It was a blast! we love our friends! Phew! Lots and Lots of fun! Hope you're all having a great Summer too!

Where to start...

2010-05-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

We went to an Angles game and I made Bryce take a

picture with the State Farm sign...employee pride!

D-Land with these two is always a treat :)
We went to a taping of Let's Make a Deal!
Putting on our costumes...
Ready to see Wayne Brady! Unfortunately none of us were chosen,
but look for us on May 27th! With great sadness, we had to let this girl and her hubby move to AZ.

But we had some fun first...Ugly Faces!! I realized that summer is definitely on it's way :(
We partied it up at Tyler and Becca's wedding Always a fun group We celebrated my mom's 66th birthday (I can put her age on her because I know she doesn't read it :) My mom had some health problems the begining of this year, but we are so greatful that she is doing much better now... Love you Mommy! And I got to go to D-Land (can't get enough of that place!)

with the cutest girls in the world!

Last, but not least, we have a big change coming in June... I will be starting a new job! I'll be working for the CHP (California Highway Patorl) as a dispatcher. Yes, that means yours truly will be uttering the phrase "911 what is your emergency?" Cool huh? It's so funny because I never thought I would be working in Law enforcement but when I applied for the job (last July) I just had a feeling that this was something I could do and be good at. So needless to say, I'm stoked. Not only for the new challenge but to finally only have ONE stable job and the perks and benefits that come with working for the state.

I will definitely miss teaching. I plan to keep looking for teaching positions while I start my new career, but I'm not getting my hopes up (if you haven't heard, CA is letting go TONS of teachers right now so full time positions are few and far between). We definitely see this as a huge blessing for us and a chance to save some more money for the future. Timing is also good because Bryce is yet again tinkering with the idea of going back to school... more on that later.

UPDATE!

2010-04-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

I promise we're still here...busy as ever...but still here!

In March Bryce's amazing parents took us to see BON JOVI! I loved every minute of it! And as an added bonus, the opening act was Dashboard Confessional whom I also adore (Bryce and I danced to a DC song at our wedding too... awww)

Before the concert, we saw Jay Leno filming Jay Walking outside the Staples Center. We got super close and I kept edging forward hoping he would want to talk to me, but no such luck :(

About a week later, I somehow got convinced to take these girls to a concert at Knott's Berry Farm. Aren't they cute?

We saw these guys... I think they're called New Boyz (?). Not a bad show but you should have seen my girls when those boys took their shirts off... They went nuts! It was hilarious! (and since I know you're wondering...yes, I did take a picture with their shirts off and yes I was ashamed of myself...haha)

We went to D-Land on St. Patty's day where I totally ruined George's super ugly face on Splash Mountain with my hand perfectly covering him... Sorry George! I didn't know!

Oh and Bryce got a little wet..... and he was NOT a happy camper...that's what you get for sitting in front!
We celebrated this cute guy's 17th B-day. My baby nephew is so old!!

Had a girls night and watched (or talked through) New Moon....Soooo much fun!
And wished the City of Los Alamitos a Happy 50th Birthday!

Yes, I like to take a lot of jumping pics. I highly reccomend it if you're looking for a quick way to put a smile on your face :)

LOVE IT!!

Bryce's Birthday!

2010-02-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

On the 18th Bryce turned 26! On Thursday we went out to dinner with his family to Johnny Reb's (delicious) and they did a great job of embarassing him :)

Then on Saturday we had a little party for him with some great company.

(Yeah, that's a rice krispie treat cake... I've been watching a little too much "Food Network Challenge")
Here are some other things we've also been up to since our last post:

We went virtual golfing with our favorite golfs pros.

Went to an awesome Super Bowl Shin-Dig at the Ricks house.

I'm still LOVING my young Womens calling. Her are my girls after our "tissue paper" fashion show where the girls got to design and construct their own outifts out of tissue paper and then rock the runway.

Made a Diet Coke and Mentos rocket with these guys... or at least tried to.

RANDOMLY ran into our good friends who live in Las Vegas at Disneyland! We miss them tons!

That's all folks!!!

I'm Going Inactive

2010-01-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

......from bloging, that is. I've become a horrible blogger due to the fact that I currently have no life outside of work. It was nice to have a break from subbing over Christmas, however, I spent my "break" working Day Camp at the Rec. Dept. so basically, I'm feeling a little worn out! Nevertheless, I will keep in mind that crazy work is better than no work.

Bryce is good too. Still working at State Farm, but he currently has his hooks in a few other employment opportunities, so we'll see where that leads. He's also LOVING coaching basketball at the Rec. It's so fun to see him in that element, teaching kids about is favorite game. You would die if you saw the way his face lights up when his player makes a shot.... so cute. I, myself am not a HUGE B-Ball fan (I actually despise it) but my team is doing great to, they're awesome kids.

As for the holidays, they were wonderful! We absolutely LOVE that our families live in the same area and we can spend the holidays with both. Thanksgiving was great, Christmas was amazing and New Years was a blast. Just simple, wonderful time with friends and family is how we like to spend this time or year. As I often do, I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

We went to the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade with these guys...

Rode in a duffy boat...

Hung out with some old HS friends :) ...

Had fun with my fam...

Looked at Christmas Lights...

And goofed off

Went to Disneyland with Bryce's fam...

Check out Christy :)

AND Hung out with this fun group for NYE!

The Holidays were jammed pack, but they sure were fun!!!

P.S. For your consideration...

Isn't the idea of a Drvie-up ATM to NOT get out of your car?? Just a thought.

Eric and Lisa

2009-11-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, My two WONDERFUL friends Lisa and Eric were sealed in the Newport Beach Temple. I got to be a bridesmaid and enjoyed the day very much. I seriously think Lisa might be the most beautiful bride EVER ....check out the pics if you don't believe me :) I got to know each of them seperately before they started dating... Lisa was one of my first friends when I started going to the singles ward, and when she went on her mission to Hong Kong, I got to know and love Eric. They are so great together... I love it! They're moving to AZ in May, but we are so glad to have them nearby until then! Congrats guys!

Snip Snip...

2009-11-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

I've gotten into this habit of growing my hair out...then chopping it off. This has been going on for the better part of 5 years now. As you can see, we're on the "chopping" part of the cycle and I am happy to report that all the gross, processed, and dyed part of my hair is now completely GONE !!! Back to natural, baby :)

Viva MEXICO!!!

2009-11-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we were in MEXICO! Ok, I know what you're thinking, what about swine flu? Well at this point, we have a better chance of getting it here than in Mexico, sad but true... Anyways, we had a fabulous time with our amazing friends; Ricky, Shannon, Sean and Jill. We stayed in this wonderful gated community right on the water with a private beach and everything. Bryce and I were the only ones out of the group that had never been, and we loved it! Especially since our friend Ricky is like Mr. Mexico and knows his way around really well. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend, Thanks guys! And now for the pictures...

Galaxy Game!

2009-10-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we had every intention of going to our ward Halloween party. That is, until we got a text form our friend Jared saying he had FREE ticket to the LA Galaxy game. I had never been to a game, so I thought it would be fun. Little did we know, that the FREE tickets were normally $125 !!! My goodness they were great seats. But that's not all. We also got to tour one of the amazing seats and watch part of the game from there. But the absolute best part on the night was when we got there, we got these wristbands that let us go down on the friend before the game started. We were off to the side and the players were in the middle of the field warming-up then all of a sudden they all come joggin over to where we are and do their sprint sent RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. David Beckham and Landon Donovan were literally close enough to touch!! I was so star struck I probably looked like an idot with my camera on rapid fire mode, but I didn't care. It was amazing! We even got gift bags with a poster, soccer ball, and Chipotle giftcard!Thanks guys for a great night!

Finally found a free moment to blog!

2009-10-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Life is crazy busy right now, but the craziness is divided between work AND play, so that's good. We had another great weekend with wonderful friends whom I am SO grateful for. We carved pumpkins, went to a darling wedding, and celebrated an old woman's birthday all in THREE days. Needless to say we are beyond tired from the fun, but it was so worth it. Here are the pics...

Getting our carving on. This was our first get-together in the new apt. and I was pleasantly surprised that we fit 12 adults semi-comfortbly in our living room.

The finished products!

On Saturday, we woke up early to got here....

And see these two get hitched! We LOVE Kaci and Chris and are so excited for them!

She made a gorgeous bride!

Then, on Sunday it was time to party...well party as much as you can on Sunday. We headed to my mama's house to chow down and laugh with my fam. I also got to spend some B-day time with my dad earlier this week which I also enjoyed :)

The only bad part of the weekend was the whole "turning another year older" thing :( Other than that, I had a fabulous time with amazing people who have helped make me the person I am (good or bad, lol) and encourage me to be better. Love and thanks to all my family and friends, you're the best EVER!

Epic Weekend

2009-09-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a blast. Unfortunately I've been recovering since then so I am just now finding a moment to blog about it. It all started on Friday. I had to work (coaching Volleyball) and my team got destroyed. I felt so bad but the kids on the other team were GIANTS! I didn't let it get me down because I knew we were going to a fun get together afterwards. We went to the cutest Ho Down put on by the cutest ladies and had a blast eating, dancing, and talking.

Ironically, When I told bryce about the party, he said "Do I have to dress up?" I said yes. Then he said "OK but I'm just going to wear my cowboy hat." Well, that cowboy hat must have been related to Frosty the snowman's magic hat because when he put it on, he instantly went looking for more things to perfect his costume. He kept saying "How do I look?" It was cute :)
For the party I made this delectable treat (if I do say so myself)

That's right, you're looking at a mini chees cake with a PEANUTBUTTER CUP inside, with a chocolate drizzle and toffee bits on top. And yes, It DID taste as good as it looked :)

We took our friends Sean and Jill to the party and while we were there, the boys somehow got on the subject of the Redbull Soapbox Race that was happening the next day. We all agreed it sounded awesome, so we decided to be spontaneous and go. So we got up early and drove to Sean and Jill's and then took the train to dowtown LA for the race. This thing was INSANE!!! So Much Fun!

Precious

People scaled the buildings to get a better view

Talking to team Banana Hammock

The people-watching was excellent

Beautiful Downtown

Our Seats

The Soapbox cars started at the top of 5th and then made a hard left hand turn onto Grand (this is where most of the accidents occured) and there were some wild cars. Here are some pics.

Then we raced home and headed to the Angels Game with this Guy. The game kinda stunk, but he still had fun AND got a free Angel's chips-and-salsa platter!! Thanks for the tickets Dave :)

Last of all, when the game was over, we headed over to ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney to see some buddies and wish our friend Mark a happy birthday.

SERIOULSY, so much FUN!!!

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

We are officially moving! Technically we're moving to a new city (Seal Beach) but our apt. is in Rossmoor behind the shopping center. We move in next week and we couldn't be more excited to get all our stuff out storage! We are also very happy we will be staying in the Los Al Ward, which we love. We had all but given up on staying in Los Al, but then Bryce found this place and the rest is history!

First (and second and third and fourth) Day of Substitute Teaching

2009-09-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

So it's only the 2nd week of school and I lined up 4 days of subbing. I had no idead It would take off like this, but I'm glad it has. I really love it. The classroom is a familiar environment for me, but I still get the variety of going to a new class each day. Yes, some of the kids are crazy, some are brown nosers, and some are just plain mean, but at least it makes the day entertaining :) in addittion to teaching, I have a sweet gig for the next 6 weeks as a CELDT proctor for Garden Grove District. The CELDT (not like you're interested) is the California English Language Development Test and for districts like GG where the student population is 80% English lanuage learners, getting the test administered is a big deal. Basically, I get paid the same for easier work and I don't have to call in everyday. So I feel very fortunate for this opportunity and am excited to get a better feel for the district.

P.S. We're moving! Details to come :)

Finding Hope

2009-09-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

I kow this has been floating around facebook, but I recieved this video from a girl I played softball with at BYU-I. This is her Dad's story...

Impromptu Swim Party

2009-08-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard lately... it's been HOT around here. So we decided to cool off in the pool!

Thanks ladies (and gentlemen :) for a fun day!

Softball Reunion

2009-08-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

I played little league softball with these girls for many years back in the day. We won games, lost games, traveled together, cheered eachother on, and made some wonderful memories. It's been a long time since we've seen eachother and some were missing, but still a great reunion!