Feliz Natal!

This Christmas was such a unique and special one. It was my first Christmas without Col (since we'd been dating) and I just couldn't help but wonder how I could do Christmas without him.

It finally rolled around and without sugar coating it, I was really sad and super down about not being able to spend Christmas with him. But I got out of bed this morning and had the most fun opening presents with my family and spending quality time with them. I realized that this is my 2nd to last year at MY home with MY family waking up in MY bed, so I just tried to soak it all in. It was a wonderful morning and I loved being with my family. After presents, we went to Pai's house and had breakfast with the whole family, I sat and held the babies, and opened up presents from Pai and Maryann. 11:30 quickly rolled around, and it was time for Colin to skype home. So off to my favorite Montgomery's house for the long awaited moment. The anticipation was seriously thick and my heart was a ticking time bomb, my mind kept going from "I get to see him in 2 minutes" to "crap did I wear the right outfit?" Then...His name popped up and he was video calling us. THERE HE WAS.

(The first thing out of his mouth..."You are all so beautiful")

The cutest missionary I ever laid eyes on. My eyes got soaked immediately and I just wanted to dance around the kitchen and do Andy's fist pumping scene from The Breakfast Club. There he was smiling that cute smile and wearing the checkered tie from J.Crew I got him. He wasn't just an email! He was talking, smiling, laughing, REAL LIFE. It was the best Christmas present I could've ever wished for or gotten. He is growing SO much and is a man among men. I am so proud to call him mine and I love him more and more every day.

Christmas was off the charts this year and I am EXTREMELY blessed and privelaged to have all those I love near to me during the season. Only one more Christmas then he's HOME! Let the countdown for next Christmas start ;)

I hope everyone had the best Christmas. May Heavenly Father provide many blessings to you and yours this 2013.

No, it's not October.

Afternoons in Gilbert have been great with a capital G lately. So we take full advantage all the time. We are all constantly riding bikes / boards  and doing that outdoorsy crap that we can't do anytime else. Gilbert is easy, breezy, and beautiful right now. And I am ALL about that life. So here's some nice quality iphone pictures for all of you.

I LOVE OCTOBER!!!!

oops.....I mean December

Ready or Not

On Thursday night after school, I took Bella, Carsten, Elle, & our good friend Chloe Cook down to Tempe marketplace to watch Bridget Mendler's free concert. Aside from every hispanic in AZ being there and no space to move, it was a cute cozy little concert. Bella is obsessed with her and we've all determined that she will look exactly like her when she's older total celeb-look-alike.

After the concert we got the chance to take a picture with her and meet her! It was such a cool experience for the kids and for me. I was so star struck! She was so nice and polite and patient and tiny and cute. We love Bridget Mendler around here!

He's Goin' on a Mission!

The time is starting to come where ALL of my friends are leaving on missions. First Col, then Wyatt, and so on and so forth...Now i'm scraping the bottom of the barell for friends. Awesome right? Not really. But as sad as I am to see them go, they are going to make the BEST missionaries and I say that with a 100% seriousness. They will be the best, just you watch and see. So last Thursday, we all gathered around and waited anxiously as Austin opened his call...Drumroll please...

You can believe my dad was way excited about him serving in Scandanavia.

I love austie with my whole heart and he is one of my absolute best friends. I am so proud of him and love him so much!

The pictures above perfectly explain our relationship. My little brother that one.

Letters might just be my happy place.
Especially when their coming from my best friend.

And especially when he sends me doodles and says things like, "You're going to make a great wife Tori! I'm so grateful for our friendship and for how long we've known eachother. I love you!"

I love that Elder Payne man. 

Easy Livin'

On our trip to see The Killers, it was a really quick one.

We got in Friday afternoon and had to leave Saturday night.

So Saturday rolled around and we had a Killer Hangover...(Get it?)

So we took it easy. Steven made Josh and I cracked wheat (A Bethea fave) and we just enjoyed such wonderful company, food, weather, and more.

We went down to the movie theatre and watched Life of Pi. We all loved it and were so awe strucken by the end of it.

To wrap up our trip, we explored temple square and city creek mall.

There's something about Utah in the winter that makes everything else uncomparable.  

It was such a fun trip and I'm so grateful I got to experience so much in so little time. 

Killers 2k12

Do you know me? Do you REALLY know me?

Because if you do, you will fully understand and appreciate the love and adoration I have for Brandon Flowers.

I bought 4 tickets to The Killers in September for Josh's birthday and the trip FINALLY came. Seriously probably THE most anticipated event of my life.

We got in Utah Friday afternoon and Trey picked us up from the airport. We went straight to the Smith's house and carried on casual conversation and hit up Burger King before "Diet Coke" hour hit. (where the mom's come home from the gym and picking their kids up from school)

Then it was concert time.

Honestly, I'm still completely baffled and overwhelmed at how incredible they were.

By far the absolute best concert I have been to.

It was such a fun short little trip and I'm so glad i'll be able to tell my kids one day, "mama saw them in concert!"

Dream come true everyone. I promise

Gilbert Lyfe

 Today I went fishing with two of the coolest boys I know.

I love my Friends.

I love Gilbert.

And I love November.

Is it November or July over here?

Can't tell.

My Girls

If you asked me how much I love when my girls are in town, I would have to look you dead in the eye and respond with a, "You have no idea how much I love it." And that's exactly what I said. 

I hate NAU and I hate that Kelsey lives there. But hi. 3 weeks and she's back here with me. That's fine by me. I'm so ready for her to come back. LC and Cosette already live here so nobody cares about them. 

Just kidding. 

I love them.
And these are my main girls. 

The Nutcracker

This year, Gisele and Cienne were both cast in The Nutcracker ballet and both did a fantastic job. 

We went Saturday night. 

That night, Gisele was the Sugarplum Fairy and the Maid, and Cienne was a party girl, a tin soldier, and a flower fairy. 

It makes a girl proud to see her cousins dance like that. There's not many people who can say they've been able to do that, and how lucky am I to call them mine? 

SO lucky. 

Saturday Champions

 

The day after Thanksgiving were the state championship games for football in AZ. 

Dad, Carsten & I went to Cardinals stadium to watch Hamilton vs. Mountain Pointe. Hamilton unfortunately came out on  top and we left in the 3rd quarter. Kind of a crummy game. 

But to make up for it, we booked it over to ASU to watch the Queen Creek vs. Desert Edge game. THAT was a game. It was such a fun game to watch and be apart of.

Queen Creek had an undefeated season and took it all home. 

We love football around here.

Gobble Gobble.

This Thanksgiving was so fabulous. 

Really it was just so fun. 

We went over to Pai's house for lunch/dinner with my mom's whole side of the family. 

Everything was so so good and holding babies was even better. 

We ate and ate and ate till we couldn't eat anymore. 

We watched football and played football. 

Around 6 we all went to Zoolights as a family and got our fill of animals and christmas all rolled into one. I carried brick around the whole time showing him the lights and just lovin on that cute face. 

It was one of the best Thanksgiving's I've ever had and I'm so grateful for the people I get to celebrate it with. 

Happy 7 Months!

 Hi everyone, my name is Colin and I am super attractive and the hardest working person out there. 

K, that was me, but let's get real right now. 

Is he not the cutest? 

And he cleaned out his moldy water tank all by himself so they could have a normal shower. 

Am I lucky? 

No. 

Just kidding. 

I'm the luckiest. 

He is killing it and absolutely loving Africa. (Just like we knew he would)

I lava you Elder Montgomery!

Eu te amo Elder Montgomery

Today is his 7 month mark. 

Today I am in love.

Today I am Lucky. 

Today I am his. 

And will be for the rest of forever. 

I love that blonde boy with all that I have. 

Forever and ever amen. 

"We aren't married"

Tuesday night on a chilly November in Gilbert Arizona. 

You could go Ice skating, QT for some hot chocolate, watch a movie...

Or go to 5 & Diner for some milkshakes with your bff. 

Does anyone even remember that place?
I'm glad we did because it was the best. 

2 Decades

You know when people ask you on your birthday, "So, do you feel any older?" and you respond with a, "Oh, ha-ha not really." 

Well this year, when people asked, I felt it. 

This one is no longer a teen. 

Whaaaaa? 

I got really sad about it. 

I don't want to be 20! 

I want to stay little and be with my little friends in my little town for the rest of my little life. 

But unfortunately, this isn't "Little People BIG World" so i've gotta grow up sometime. 

Other than being super goth about being old, it was such a good birthday. 

In the morning, mom and I went to breakfast at Liberty market. That omelet did me so right. 

Then I got to work to a desk that looked like the birthday monster threw up on it, as well as my fave candy, and an especially delicious jamba juice. My bff LC gets mad props on that one. 

We went to lunch at one of my favie sandwich shops, Flancer's, and got to see my friend pick his nose in his car on the way back to work.

When work finally commenced, the family all went to Joe's for dinner. Whoever lives in Gilbert and doesn't cash in on that is a fool. 

And everyone has a second birthday dinner right? Right. 

My friends all got together and we had dinner at Tia Rosa's. I really have the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for. They mean the world to me! 

And to conclude the night, we hit up Brunswick for a good competitive game of bowling, and Braden smashed all of us. 

LC spent the night and we got to have some quality bonding time. It's always the best when I can wake up to that one. 

So that was Friday. 

Saturday, we woke up and Last Chanced it. 

Give me a break, there was nothing. 

I always end up leaving there hating myself and feeling like I have to peel off an extra layer of skin. 

But I always return. 

After that, dad took me out to get a pedicure (yes you read that right) at Elite. And might I add "Miss O'leary's BBQ" Is my new fave color. Who doesn't want BBQ looking toes? 

Later that night, my good friend Zach Jackson had HIS birthday dinner at Costa. We had a good time with good people and food and got to catch up with people I don't usually get to see. I.E. everyone in Thatcher. Spencer, Jimmy, LC, Austin Skinner and I hung out in the parking lot, doing a hell of a lot of nothing. But The personal "Dank" messages all over my car by Spencer were an added bonus. 

Sunday finally rolled around and we had a bunch of the family come over for cake and ice cream. There's nothing I love more than my whole family in one place at the same time. I love them all with everything I have! 

Monday morning, I had two options: Last Chance, or the Zoo. 

I chose neither and decided to sleep. 

I was super bummed because the Zoo is always a good time, especially with Pai. 

But my extra sleep was wonderful as well. 

Dad and I rolled out around 10 to go to breakfast at Eggington's. Never disappointing.

So as for the birthday weekend, I'd definately give it 17 million thumbs up. I got spoiled and loved on all weekend. 

Thank you to my family and friends who love me enough to prolong my birthday and celebrate with me all day and all night! 

I love you all! 

Now here's 5 minutes of what my birthday actually looked like:

Elder Hottie

So here's the weekly update on this hunk: 

1. He's hot

2. He's hardworking

3. He loves me and I love him. 

4. He loves his mission. 

5. He loves the Lord.

And that's pretty much all that happened. 

He sent me the sweetest email ever for my birthday. Complete with my own picture and everything... it just oozed and goozed cuteness. (What else is new?)

 He loves Africa and loves being a missionary. There are so many things that could discourage him (like this sick-nast water he has to scoop out of a roach motel and use as a shower) But he keeps on keepin on.

 

Save Ferris

Every year, LC and I stress about a month in advance about what to be for Halloween. We went back and forth from a ballerina, Elsa and Weird Girl from Frankenweenie, and everything else in between. Breakouts happened, sleep was lost, and many text shot through cyberspace trying to figure this out. So all of you must think some spectacular costume was our outcome. 

Wrong. 

At work our theme was "The 80s" and we ran with it. 

So we were our mom's for Halloween. 

I told my mom our idea and she got super hyper going into lengthy detail about how she can help me be the best Kaylynn Bethea dupp that there ever was. So again, you probably think that was the outcome. 

And this time, your thoughts are correct my friends. I pulled off Kaylynn like no one else could. 

Complete with a "Save Ferris" t-shirt, a red undershirt, HAIR, blue eyeshadow, a holographic ring, jelly bracelets, a neon freestyle watch, levi's, legwarmers, and chucks. SO fly. I know. 

But the 1st prize, and biggest props go to Xan. 

Have you ever seen Bridesmaids? 

1. if you haven't. I'm sorry. 

2. She was "Megan" from Bridesmaids. 

None of us could control ourselves. She is the only one that could so perfectly pull that off. So she did. We love Xan for this. 

So yeah, my costume was pretty lame unfortunately. But I was able to whip my hair back and forth, and shake my rump all night...which is all that matters. It was such a fun Halloween. 

We started it off by going to our BFF's Adam's house. His birthday is on Halloween, so every year, we go to his house and have soup and the whole shebang. It's been an ongoing tradition for the past 3 years, but he just left on his mission Wednesday, so with a heavy heavy heart, we bid adieu to both Adam and Sister Payne's yummy soup for 2 years. Both will be greatly missed. 

(Brittlyn: A unicorn. Mind you, this was Brooke's 24 month old costume until Britt cut the legs off. We like Brittlyn. Austin: An Australian tour guide. Ty: A gay cowboy *rolls eyes but loves him here* Cosette: Sandy. Adam: a pilgrim later on at night. Vance: Vance. Braden: Flynn Rider, is he not the BEST you've EVER seen? Brooke: Tangled. Jarom: Old Man. Kimee: Old Lady...and Me.)

Then LC and I went over to Chipotle and got our $2 "Boo"rito. Whoever did not participate in this magical event, missed out. I knew Halloween was my fave for a reason. 

The last event was the massive Halloween Airplane Hanger party. We dropped it like it was hot all night and didn't stop once. 

 It was such a fun day and I'm glad I get to make so many memories like this with the best people in the whole wide world. **Minus Colin.

Merry & Bright!

In lieu of November starting holiday attitude is in full swing...Sooooo I am starting a collection of personalized holiday prints!

You can email me at:

torsoris (at) yahoo (dot) com

 

Colin Update

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. They say a lot of things that will eventually turn into a picture on pinterest, but this quote is so significant and important to me. The love of my life is serving the Lord in Angola Africa right now and is absolutely killing it. For as long as I've known Col, his dedication and hard working attitude is something I've loved about him from day 1. He doesn't do anything half way and will not stop until it's done right. This includes his missionary work. He is blessing the lives of so many people in Angola. I can only imagine the impact the people there are making on his life, and vis-a-versa.

Both of our lives turned when he left, I don't think either of us really knew how to go on without one another. But with each day passing, I look and see how much the lord has blessed the both of us in this process, I not only see amazing changes in my boyfriend, but also in myself. I'm growing into the woman that I want to be and who God, and Col want and need me to be.

While he's been gone I've gone through so many phases, grief, sadness, anger, distancing myself from others, you name it. I really had no idea how to act. I joined singles ward with LC and tried the whole talking to boys and dating thing, but it just wasn't for me. Dates are fun, but RMs that want to be serious isn't ha ha. My heart is in Africa and it'll be there until April of 2014. I'm so proud of Colin and the person he is. I thank Heavenly Father DAILY and consistently for the sincere blessing that Colin is. I am so incredibly lucky to have Colin as my other half. He really is just that though.
My other Half.

So without further adieu, here's the boy of my dreams...

Hallowellen

Halloween is over already? What? No!

Yes.

That time of the year has already come and gone. My favorite time of the year in fact.

Minus Summer and Christmas. So my 3rd favorite time of the year actually.

Whatever.

For work, the admissions team came in as 80's. Mom got way over-excited about that and took me out shopping for all the required gear.

So are any of you suprised by the resemblance between the two of us?

After work, LC and I went to our good friend Adam's house for his traditional soup and pizza for his birthday. We've been doing this for the past 3 years and I can't believe this will be the last time. (He leaves on his mission the 7th of November. It was so fun to get all of us together. I'm SO grateful for my friends and the friendships we have. Brother's and sister's forever.

After Adam's we went to the big halloween dance at the airplane hanger in Chandler. This has been so long awaited and it was one of the most fun dances i've ever been to. My neck, back, feet and legs are screamin today. Went way to hard, but so worh it.