a little piece of calistoga

the other day i was driving home from the dentist. i had to get a gold crown on my very back molar (which i really love - it's my own little secret, and it makes me a princess because all princesses have gold crowns, right? i so funny.) 

anyway.

on my way home, i saw calistoga jan. so i speedy quick drove home, got my camera, and found him again. i asked him if i could take a few photos, and he happily obliged. he was quite jolly. i was grateful that he was wearing a shirt because sometimes he doesn't do that.

then the very next day, i was at breakfast with my dear sasha. she was leaving the next day (which is today, so that makes the second half of this story yesterday - did that make any sense?) for her journey to lyon, france! she's spending a year there. so exciting. we're going to visit each other.

now back to the story.

so we were sitting at breakfast at café sarafornia and i was telling her about my adventure with jan. not even 30 minutes later we were driving down main street and saw him with his bike. and i happened to have my camera. so we got out and gretchen (sasha's mom) snapped a few photos of us.

it was such a happy thing.

jan and the bike. v for victory.

this bike is a celebration of life. 11 years ago, jan had open heart surgery and has been riding his bike ever since.

"do you want to see my space hat?"

these are jan's glitter sandals...i'm pretty sure he and i are kindred spirits. he made them himself.

found him after breakfast.

sasha and i in the space hat.

sasha on the bike

celebration of life. in everything give thanks.

♡ these are my navas ♡

i have two people in my life that i love very very much. 

{well, there are a lot of people that i love very very much. i am just choosing to blog about a particular two at this very moment.}

their names are michelle and sebastian.

i remember the first time i met them. it was a sunday, and i was intrigued by sebastian's long, red hair. i thought, "i think they will fit right into the branch."

and they did.

i can't really remember the branch without them, to be honest.

we've shared a lot of great memories. 

like the fourth of july. like the "hoo hoo" story. like every single day at the bakery. like every branch get together. like teddy graham jacuzzis. like "ollo"s on the phone. like realizing that sebastian was really sebastian-ham nava, meat squire extraordinaire. like making one MILLION cupcakes. like slouchy nutters and joey butters. like red beard rootbeer. like blackberry picking. like pizza eating. like bread delivering. like every day's a good day when you paint. like outdoor movie nights. like silly instagram posts. like "i can't brain today, i have the dumb." like laughing for ten minutes straight when i counted my drawer on memorial day. like crazy shirt lady (yeah, you know the one i'm talking about, michy). like bakery projects and conquering italian buttercream. like general conference breakfasts. like god be with you til we meet again. like...like...everything.

there are so many memories i can't even write them all down.

now they are moving on to boston. seabass is going to be getting his master's in gastronomy at boston university.

even though i keep getting teary-eyed thinking about them moving (tenderheart), i am so excited for them. 

so so excited for them.

thank you, navas, for the memories. 

thank you for the love, the laughs, and for being a part of my family.

♡ i love you guys ♡

{too many hearts? naw...you can never have too many hearts ♡}

no, we're not goofballs or anything. why would you ask that?

✩✩✩ my michy. my michelin-star. ✩✩✩

♡ our branch family ♡

the best day ever : part 3 "bakery breakfast"

every summer i get breakfast from the bakery with my friend stephanie (aka apple and will from here-on-out be referred to by that name). she's really great.

this summer, we got breakfast with michelle, too! michelle is stephanie's sister-in-law and one of my really good friends from church. i love that girl to pieces! 

so we went to the bakery

yeah, i work here...and i love it.

ate some delicious things

let's just talk about how good this danish is. it's good.

rolled in the actually perfect grass

michelle gave the grass a thumb's up!

apple was so happy.

and had a dance party in the barrel room at vintage marketplace

just only the best dancing photo i've ever taken (or that self-timer has ever taken)

i love those two ladies! what a fun morning it was, even if we didn't see any famous people :)

the best day ever : part 2 "corn me!"

so after i got home from dublin, my family had our annual backyard movie night with the morgans, the morrills, colbyn, and the navas. every summer we set up a sheet in our backyard and project a movie onto the screen. it's great. always the best time of all the times. we laugh and eat smores and lisa's caramel corn and it's really the happiest thing you will ever do in your entire life.

this time my parents had a brilliant idea to set up our blow-up mattresses in front of the screen. it was deeeeeeluxe. so great. 

so all of my favorite people came over to our house

and we watched commando cody (tradition : we always watch the first episode and it's just as funny as the first time we watched it. "cody, do you still have your flying suit?" "oh, that old thing?" hahahaha)

if you look closely you can see some radar men from the moon

and then we watched some buster keaton

and then we watched some charlie chaplin

and i snuggled with finn

yes, we do realize how beautiful we are

and then we watched some meteors shooting across the sky.

and i told the unfortunate story about how one time i accidentally said "CORN ME" at the bakery quite loudly. if you want the whole story, ask me. it was quite hilarious.

i'm not sure i've ever laughed so hard in my life. laughing with all of my family, laying on blow-up mattresses, watching the meteor shower? it was one of the happiest moments of my life. i'm pretty sure i'll remember it forever.

the best day ever : part 1 "seriously about to cry"

one time i went to this ysa conference in oakland. it was super fun! we sang karaoke, danced, and learned. i loved it!

highlight reel includes : napa ysa singing bohemian rhaposdy karaoke at the top of our lungs, dancing like fools, seeing natalie and jessica, sleeping over at ashley's house with ashley and michelle, and so much more.

{yeah, i know. i can't believe it actually happened either. but i sang karaoke. WHAT. i know, so unlike me. i will sing for myself and around other people...but never in front of. what has gotten into me?!}

so yep. i saw natalie and jessica there. seriously about to cry. * natalie is one of my amazing friends from freshman year at byu. i was her visiting teacher and we got to know each other really well. jessica was her roommate. good ol' penrose :) the three of us have kept in really good contact - through 4 hour lunch dates playing imaginary ping pong and talking for hours in the library instead of studying french... - and it just so happened that jessica was visiting natalie from idaho. soon a plan was set into action and on monday morning i found myself driving to dublin (not ireland) to go play!

so we had a picnic lunch at the park...

and fell asleep under a tree...

and played in the clover...

and drank boba (smoothies with tapioca)...

and were just so dang happy in our accidentally matching yellow shirts!!

it was so great to see these two ladies! both of them are putting in their mission papers, and i couldn't be more proud of them. i can't wait to hear where they are going! seriously about to cry, they better tell me where they are going!!

* "seriously about to cry" is a phrase that natalie and i like to use all the time. i have a friend on facebook who really enjoys the dramatic statuses and posted something about "seriously about to cry" once. when natalie and i were at the airport after fall semester finals, we found the status. and after that we weren't seriously about to cry, we were crying. and so now we say it all the time. maybe you had to be there. but seriously, it's hilarious.

in which i try to be david attenborough

so i'm currently watching planet earth while blogging...an interesting combination.

side note : one of the reasons i love planet earth is because david attenborough is the narrator and i just think he is the bomb.com.

but i've come to realize that i have a fascination with the world.

i mean, i already knew that.

i already knew that i love the outoors.

but i have recently (as of about 20 minutes ago recently) become fascinated with birds of paradise. not the flower. the actual birds.

they are natives of papua new guinea. and they are cray cray. there are so many different kinds and they are all so neat! i mean, look at these guys.

yes, that is actually a bird. i'm not sure how it makes itself that shape but it does.

i was also reminded of my love for llamas and alpacas. i took this photo of an alpaca in a rainbow in the andes. well, i wasn't acutally there. i just took a photo of my tv screen. definitely lamer than actually being there, but this will have to do until i go backpacking in the andes one day. seeing a llama/alpaca in the wild is definitely on the bucketlist and i will travel to south america to do it. also i want to go to machu pichu and go to chile with my dad and the family to see where he served his mission. but let's get back to llamas.

this. this is why they are my favorite animal. i love llamas.

and that is all. i'm no david attenborough, but i hope you enjoyed my version of planet earth!

song lyrics by sydney

over the years i have had some pretty good lyric mix-ups. here are a few of my best.

mrs robinson

simon and garfunkel : "god bless you please, mrs. robinson"

sydney : "god bless the cheese, mrs. robinson"

don't think twice it's all right

bob dylan : "i once loved a woman a child i'm told"

sydney : "i once loved a woman a child of a toad"

hot & cold

katy perry : "stuck on a roller coaster"

sydney : "staccato roller coaster"

honeybee

blake shelton : "i'll be your shot of whiskey"

sydney : "i'll be your shot of risqué"

king wenceslas

traditional carol : "good king wenceslas looked out, on the feast of stephen,
when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;
brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,
when a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel." 

sydney : "good king weceslas went came to town, riding on a pony.

stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni"

(can anyone tell me why that happens? how do i always mix up king wenceslas and yankee doodle? it happens to my aunt carrie, too.)