U t a h

I love Utah trips. It's like my home away from home since the majority of my extended family lives there. I was so happy that I got to spend last week there with everybody! Here's a run down of what went on while we were there:

J.Wride concert
J.Wride is my brother-in-law's band. Austin is the drummer, and a mighty good one at that. This was the first concert I had been to of theirs, and let's just say I was beyond impressed. Here's a clip of Jesse introducing the band.

They just released their new album Monsters. I highly suggest you check these guys out. (Click here)

 BYU visit
Now you just can't go to Utah without a quick Provo visit.  My younger sister Shilo and cousin Rachel were wanting to tour a couple colleges while we were in Utah, so that's exactly what we did. It was entertaining being driven around BYU campus in those little golf carts.

Grandpa Goldsberry was oh so kind to take us.
It was good spending some quality time with him.

Utah State tour

Ok I fell in love with this campus at first sight. It is s t u n n i n g. Not only did I love the beautiful  mountain scenery, the Aggie traditions, and the good looking fellas walking aroud {I couldn't help but notice}, but I also loved the fact that if Shilo were to go there, we would only be a couple hours driving distance from each other while I'm up at Rexburg. That's like a quadruple win! Needless to say, if I were to go on this tour before I ever attended BYU-Idaho-- I would be an Aggie.

At the end of the campus tour they even gave us free
 {delicious} Aggie ice cream, as well as a free lunch buffet.
Now that sold me ;)

Thanksgiving with the fam

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. I mean, what can beat a holiday all about food? This year we got to spend it with all of my mom's side of the family. Since there were so many of us, we had the dinner (actually it was more of a lunch) at a church building.

You can bet we had some fun with the props :)

Family pictures 
So it's been a l o n g time since we've had some good quality family pictures taken. So we figured that since we were all together, we should snap a couple for this year's Christmas card. Fun fact: No one took these pictures. My brother-in-law, Austin, has a high tech camera that also connects to his cell phone, so he was able to see what the camera was seeing just on his phone as he was standing there. He could tell us if we needed to move a little or fix our hair or something. Then he was able to use his phone as the button to set the camera off, and all the pictures automatically showed up on his screen so we could all see how they turned out without having to move. Very cool, very convenient, very high tech... Something I was thankful for that day! I am seriously in awe with modern technology.

A Wedding

Now this is the main reason why we took the trip to Utah. My uncle Rob was getting re-married, and he recruited my mom and aunt Jill (in other words, his sisters) to be his 'wedding planners'. They literally did everything-- food, decorations, wedding handouts for the guests, etc. There were many hours put into it, but the wedding turned out amazing. It was well worth all the work. It was a civil wedding, so my dad was given permission from the church to marry them. I thought that was pretty neat.

My brother Taylor played and sang the song "Can't Help Falling in Love" for their first dance. That was my favorite part. He did so good. I recorded it, but the sound quality isn't good. Later that night Taylor was nice enough to play it for us again, along with some other songs. He clearly got all the musical talent in the family.

Dad had some fun with "bullwinkle"
while hanging the lights ;)

The BIG announcement

Britta finally told the news of her pregnancy on thanksgiving day!!! I've been waiting so long to tell people! I guess I'm just a little too excited to be Aunt Lexee :) I am so happy for my big sis!
May 31st, 2014 is the big day!

Baby Anderson's first selfie ;)

So to wrap up, I guess you could say that I had a pretty {good}{great}{fantastic} time in Utah.

Not to mention I came home to some surprises in the mail-- a friend's wedding announcement as well as two letters from Jake.. one with a name tag in it :) It's been a good week.

Mi Familia

I come from a fairly big family. It consists of my two loving parents, an older brother, three sisters and two mini dachshunds-- Jack and Ava. I consider myself lucky to be smack dab in the middle. Every person in my family has helped shaped me into the person I am-- no joke.

I get my compassion for others {and eyebrows} from my Dad.

I get my precision and creativity from my Mom.

I get my style and music taste from my brother Taylor.

I get my hobbies (cheerleading & running) from my older sister Britta.

I get make-up and fashion inspiration from my sister Shilo.

I get my love for animals from my youngest sister Mauri.

Even the puppies, I get a big chunk of my patience from them.

So let me tell you a little bit about the Syddall fam. My dad, Billy, is the Bishop of the Legend ward. He is absolutely crazy and can make me laugh at almost any time. It's kind of a bummer that he's not around all too often, but he's doing what he needs to do. My dad is easily the most compassionate person I've ever known and he is constantly doing service for others.

 My mom, Tina, is very hard working. She works at the Phoenix Salon and does a fabulous job coloring, cutting, and doing hair. (Click here) She is also an amazing cook, and is always open to trying something new. (Get her recipes here) My mom is oh so creative and she is also very helpful with-- well, everything. Did I mention she likes to blog?

Taylor is the best big brother ever. He was seriously my idol as I was growing up. He played guitar, was in the marching band, and skateboarded, so I decided to take up all of those at some point. Taylor's broken his arms about 10 times doing things such as snowboarding, skateboarding, long boarding, and a few other things. Right now Taylor is living in Utah and is happily married to Lynnea. 

Britta is my older sister. I've also really looked up to her throughout the years. She inspired me to do cheerleading which was a huge part of my high school experience. Britta graduated from BYU this year, and is now a proud mama to a puppy named Conan (Jack and Ava's little brother) and is married to Austin Anderson. (View her blog here)

Shilo is such a fun sister. She is also the fashionista of the Syddall sisters. Shilo is a swimmer and she is way good at it. She's gone to state in multiple swimming events, she's been a swim team captain, she's met Missy Franklin at some of her swim meets, she's a life-guard, and she's constantly improving her times. People also always confuse her as the older sister because she is the tallest of all us.

Mauri is the baby of the family, which is weird considering she is a soon-to-be teenager come January. She's accomplished a lot throughout her 'preteen' years. She's participated in dance, swim teams, track, piano lessons, choir, volleyball, and I'm sure there's plenty more things to come. Mauri is also a huge animal lover. She tells us all the time that her dream job is to be a vet when she's older.

We're notorious for taking.. not the most serious pictures ever.

This picture cracks me up. Even though no one else is ready for it,
at least uncle Matt is! (top right)

And that's mi familia. They are the best ever.

Fall Festivities

I love fall.

I love the colors.

I love the haunted houses.

And I love the parties.


Flashback to last year:

How's that for a quickie post?

Monday Missionary Mail

Mondays are my f a v o r i t e. Not only do I get emails from all my favorite boys, but I also get pictures! I normally just save them to my phone, but due to lack of storage space, I need an alternate. So here are some of their latest pictures.

The letter I sent to Jakesta.

I'm already looking forward to next Monday!