Here are the Beautiful Pictures...

Here are some pictures from the "whirlwind" week I described last time. It was such a fun week, as you will see below!

THE BRIDE on Bachelorette Night!


All the girls at the Bridesmaids luncheon at a BEAUTIFUL ocean front home on Bainbridge Island.


This is B and Ezekiel. Isn't he the cutest? (B, you are cute too, dont worry). I love the mo-hawk that he sports. I gotta be honest, after living almost an entire week with the kid, I MISS HIM!


Me and Kris on the Ferry to Bainbridge


Ok, true confessions time: I've always kind of judged those who are obsessed with the "Sodoku Craze" and never really understood it. Mostly because in the past, I took one look at it and was so confused and I just assumed I was stupid and couldn't do it. It looked WAY too hard so I didn't even bother. My husband swears he tried to explain it to me once before and it ended in some sort of yelling and argument, but I have chosen to block that out. It took the patient voice of my favorite Chicago-an and new friend Kara to kindly explain the rules and strategy of the game, thus passing on the addiction to me. Here is me and Carrie tag teaming Sodoku on the Ferry. Kara was kind enough to lend me her book for so much of the trip and I tried to improve my game with any spare moment I had...or she let me borrow it for 1 game and I refused to give it back. I can't remember which. (the little guy in the pic is Ezekiel Prince. That's right: 2 Ezekiels in case you are keeping track).


Some of my "roomies" for the week (aka, the bridesmaids/bride)


Jon got to fly in on Friday, and here we are at the rehearsal dinner (which had the best Salmon Ive ever had in my LIFE by the way. YUM!)


Me and the Bride as we got ready


Me and Carrie lacing her--wasn't the back of her dress SO pretty??


ALL the bridesmaids and the bride! It was so good to catch up and hang out with all these wonderful girls last week. We made many memories and had many laughs. It was even extra fun to meet Kara, Kristen's sister in law, and become fast friends--it felt like we had all known each other for years! We gotta find a way to get Kristen and Kara down here to California for GOOD...it's just wrong how far apart we all live.

Pretty flowers!

The Happy Couple: Mr. and Mrs. Dacey!

This is Gavin, Carrie's son and one of the ring bearers. He seriously one of the cutest, most hilarious kids I've ever met. One of my favorite stories from this trip is when 3 of us girls were in the car with him driving in Seattle, and (inevitably), we got lost. As we are scrambling, trying to find where to go with all the crazy one way streets, Gavin is in the back, calmly and rationally giving direction advice. "Jen, I think you should probably find the freeway." or "I think you should turn towards the water." (Remember--this kid is THREE.) The funniest thing is he probably was right the whole time and knew what he was talking about. We eventually got there probably in large part to Gavin and his wise directions. He is just the cutest--Care, look out--my husband wants to steal him. Jon keeps calling him "Gavin the Genious Kid".

The Matrons and the Bride.

Eric and "the Jens" partying at the reception
The happy/sad ending...happily ever after for them, but sad for us to say goodbye knowing we won't see each other for a while.

A Whirlwind of a Week

This past week I was confronted by some of my favorite girls that I don't blog enough, so here I go. Your wish is my command. This one will be short due to my exhaustion, but its a start! :)
I got home a few hours ago from an event filled week up in Washington. All these events were surrounding my best friend Kristen's wedding. It was such a special time, seeing her dream become a reality; a beautiful ending to their romantic story, yet a new beginning as well. It was all so much fun; so much going on, SO many laughs, and then all of the sudden..its over! Its always a little bit of a slam going back to reality coming off a really fun, out of town experience. (I'm saying this and I haven't even gone to work yet! uh oh..) but such is life. The wedding was just beautiful, the bride "ravishing" (as we kept saying), and I had such a fun time doing every little thing we did. All of us girls spent the majority of our time laughing our heads off, making memories I will never forget. Its weird, cuz while it does feel good to be home and reconnect with my husband...I miss the girls already (and the 2 adorable babies that came with them. I felt like I sort of adopted them for a week and now POOF! all gone!!) We kind of had a little "dorm" experience for a few days (lots of girls in a small living space) and I had so much fun. I will go into more detail later when I post pics, because due to all this fun I had, I am just plain tired! And as I said, work will come quickly tommorow so I should get to bed... hmmm..how many sick days do I have left?? joking...mostly....

Time with Friends...

A few weekends ago, my best friend Kristen came down for a weekend to visit and so we could throw her her very first wedding shower! The weekend was so much fun, but way too short. Here are a couple of pics--I didn't get enough of my camera so if anyone has any from the shower or otherwise, send them my way!

Celebrating B's Birthday at good old Citrus City Grille

The Bride, and her two matrons of honor. :)

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day was a great one this year. When I arrived at work, these tulips, a balloon and a box of candy all were waiting for me at my desk thanks to my sweet husband. He got lots of compliments from my co-workers, needless to say. Then Jon and I went to a romantic dinner at this nice Mexican place called Taleo that Jon had made reservations at and surprised me. It was very good and so fun to spend time together. I know that people say its a "made up holiday" for the flower, candy and card businesses, but Im all about it. Any day that I get spoiled with romantic gifts and a dinner out is a great holiday.

Thawing Out After Oklahoma

Im back from Oklahoma! It was a quick but great trip, and I am so glad I got the chance to go. I got to spend some quality time with the whole Bowers fam, and (especially) had so much fun seeing the kids! I know I am biased, but they are so stinkin adorable. It was the hardest its ever been to leave. The quote that brought on the tears for me was "Noooooo! Aunt Jen can't leave. I want her to stay forever!". Yeah...how hard is it to leave when you have a 4 year old princess crying while saying that to you.

As for weather, it snowed while I was there---it was down to 20-something degrees...yeah... now I realize why I live in California. haha, It was really pretty though, I have to admit, but I am still defrosting as we speak.And I had to push Kristi's car out of a ditch. There's a story there. Just ask.

Here are some of the pics from the whirlwind trip.

It was spirit day at school on Friday and Hannah already thinks she's a cheerleader. She was sitting on my lap at the pep rally at school and it took all my strength to hold her back from running on the gym floor to start cheering with the high school cheerleaders. Literally. I'm not exaggerating.

Brrrr.....:)

Happy Birthday Jon!

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband who turns 27 TODAY! We celebrated all weekend with a night out to Melting Pot for the two of us on Friday, then to Tustin Brewing Company on Saturday night with friends and then hunt out after and finally, are continuing the celebration today and tonight with friends again. Got him a few presents including a video game he wanted, stuff for his Ipod that he got for Christmas and some clothes. Of course, the highlight of today's celebration will be watching 24 tonight. Happy Birthday to all of us. I LOVE YOU Jon!

Everybody at Tustin Brewing Co.

Don't ask me what Kevin is doing cuz I have no idea.

The birthday boy with his My Little Pony balloon from Scott and Jenny. He loved it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kauai Here We Come!

Last night, Jon and I officially booked a vacation to Kauai for the first week in June! We are SO excited! We are staying at the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation (that is where this picture is from). We got a condo there so we can have a kitchen but still have maid service (that was a must have for me!) Its right in the middle of Poipu beach which is where Jon and I have talked about going since before we were married. Its our favorite vacation spot that we both have been to seperately with our families, and now we finally get to go together. Work has been especially busy for both Jon and I due to our recent promotions (not that we are complaining about that!)---both promotions involve doing multiple jobs until people are hired underneath us, which is proving to take a while. All that to say, booking this vacation has made work a lot more tolerable knowing that in just a few short months, we will be there: lying on the beach, hearing the waves crash and looking out to bright blue water. Not bad..not bad at all.

Our Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had such a great time with both sides of the family celebrating Christmas this year. And of course, had fun with Roxy (for her first Christmas)! At one point, Jon was pretty sure that Roxy had more presents under the tree then he did...oops.

Our tree...it had to be a small one this year to make sure it fit in our living room.

Roxy's New Friend

Bethany and Ezekiel came over to visit a couple of weeks ago. These two are pretty much the cutest they come these days!

Their first meeting...face to face!

Ok so Roxy might like Ezekiel a little more than he likes her. Roxy has yet to learn about "personal space". Sorry Ezekiel!

Just hanging out!

Christmas Time is Officially Here

That's right. Christmas is almost here and Roxy is ready.

A Couple More Halloween Pictures

My cousin just gave me these pictures from the Halloween party he threw, so here they are! "The Pirates"

My cousin Brett and I

Me and Jamie, my cousin's girlfriend (and hopefully, soon to be fiancee!)

Happy Halloween

So Jon and I usually aren't really into Halloween, but this year we had fun getting into it a bit. Ok so us dressing up is our definition of "getting into it". Here is us dressed up as pirates for a party we went to.

And of course, here is Roxy in costume. :) She actually got used to being in the ballerina costume...I think she liked it. After she finished chasing her tutu for a good 10 minutes...

A Few More Pics of You Know Who...

Baby Dog

Roxy's classic look

Roxy and her new best friend Mocha.
A good friend of mine "puppy sits" for me sometimes while I'm at work and Roxy & Mocha LOVE playing with each other.

The Newest Epperson

Introducing....Roxy. Check out my birthday present from Jon. Happy Birthday to me!

Cabo!

Jon and I were given a timeshare in Cabo San Lucas this past week and we had so much fun! It was so great to celebrate our first anniversary/my birthday! Here are some pics of us doing a lot of relaxing!

(The view from our room)