girls weekend

we had girls weekend in st. george because "annie the musical" was being performed at tuacahn. i absolutely love annie and i knew months before that i would HAVE to go. since brandon absolutely does NOT love annie, i also knew it would be a girls thing. i normally go with my bestie, anne to all the plays at PMT so i knew she'd be down. we recruited my sister too. we drove down on a thursday after work and since it was later when we got to my parents' house we just hung out. on friday anne and i went shopping at the outlet mall and some other places. after that, all three of us went to get pedi's at the spa. it was so fun being pampered and chit-chatting. i wondered (out loud:), "i don't know why we don't do this more often!" anyways, then we just chilled out until we went to tuacahn. one of my mom's friends came too. tuacahn is sooo beautiful. it's an outdoor amphitheater nestled in a cove between red rock mountains. the scenery is gorgeous. such a wonderful atmosphere. i wish we had gotten there early enough to take some pics, next time for sure. anyways, we drove back to salt lake the next day cuz we all had plans for saturday night (brandon and i went to wendover to see rodney carrington perform. it was hilarious!). so, here are the pics i did take:

krista had an owwie (spelling??) on her nose. she told me it was okay to post this pic on my blog but NOT facebook. at least now i've got some blackmail.

love these things that you stick your head through! didn't realize i was the dog though. oh well, krista is the old man.

waiting in the will call line, you know, the one that took FOREVER!!

all in all it was a fun trip and i'm excited for next years trip to see "cats." anyone else???

our lil' mamma

most of you know how much i love my catty, mamma. but, for those of you who've never met her, i'm going to dedicate this post to her so you can get to know her. we adopted her in may 2005. someone found her in a box with her siblings in the parking lot of the furniture store i worked at. i was already considering a cat at the time and thought it was the perfect opportunity. they brought her to me while i was working and i spent most of the rest of my shift trying to keep her from jumping out of the box she was in and running away. she cried the whole way home.

we stopped at a pet shop to get all the supplies we would need and the lady said she was probably only 4 weeks old and to make sure she ate and poohed regularly. and that's exactly what i did. i was such a good, diligent mamma to my baby. i would wet the food and mash it up for her to eat and i would dip my finger into the water so she would drink. she wouldn't use a bottle or drink out of a bowl (she still won't drink out of her bowl--she insists on fresh tap water!), she had to lick it off my finger. then i would take her to her potty house so she could learn that is where she needs to let the magic happen. except she wasn't going number 2! i was so worried. i did what the lady suggested to stimulate her lil bum but she just wouldn't make. finally, brandon advised i just let her be and she will pooh on her own time. well, after about a day she did. i was so excited it was unreal! she's been eating and poohing ever since:)

eventually she became old enough to do most of her own care which was a relief. but i miss her being so little. she's been through about 5 names and i have a lot of nicknames for her, like beaner, lil miss, missy mamma, and lovee smiffs. mamma seems to fit her though and it has stuck. she also enjoys being sung too; which i will do occasionally, especially when no one is around! her favorite songs are "loving you" by minnie ripperton and "oh, donna" by ritchie valens (only replace all of the 'donna's with 'mamma's). of course she always does the cutest things. there are too many to blog about now. but, i thought i'd post some of her recent pics so you can see how beautiful she is:)

here she is napping (what she does best!) on my lap. she's become such a lap kitty lately. as you can see in the next picture she has found a great couch buddy in her auntie krista! she always gets too many loves from krista but she doesn't mind!

too freakin cute!

ok, i think that's enough doting. until next time...

Throlson's SL,UT Visit

Okay, okay so I know this is really really late considering they came for a visit in early August but, better late than never! My grandma, Marilyn, my aunt, Cindy and my aunt, Amy came to stay at our house for an extended weekend over my birthday. They hadn't been to Salt Lake since 1975 so we went all over the city to sightsee. Here are some of the highlights:

Cindy was really impressed by the fountain that had a foot pedal to start the water. It was even more interesting that the water came out really warm. Even after running it for awhile it was still warm. Anyways, we had to take a picture of her using the fountain. This pic ended up saving my grandma's camera from being lost forever. While we were visiting the LDS Temple, she misplaced her camera. We looked and looked all over for it to no avail. Finally I just left my name and number to lost and found and we left. The next day, someone called saying they found a camera matching the description but they wanted me to describe the pictures on it to verify that it was ours. I just told them there are some of my "crazy" aunt using the water fountain because she thought it was so neat. Yup, it was the right camera. Thankfully, we went to get it. I decided there probably wasn't a better place to lose it at.

View from Joseph Smith Memorial Building. So beautiful!

Great chair in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

My aunt, Cindy, has a "thing" for capital buildings.

Dinner at the Mayan.

Outside the Mayan. It was cold and rainy that night. Don't you just love Amy's wind blown hair? It reminds me of the Little Mermaid when she is sitting on top of the rock and her hair is blowing.

Browsing the Cracker Barrel shop. In case you can't really tell I have a spider hat on.

The giant hamburger from The Counter. I had never been there before but it was a fun place to eat. You fill out your own menu and can put anything in your wildest dreams on top of a burger. By the way, Grandma had to eat it in pieces!

Cindy and I at The Counter.

Cindy and Amy in the Salt Lake.

Mamma found a nice quiet place to sleep. She got used to all the company pretty quickly but they made her tired!

Krista mixing cobbler for the dutch oven at my birthday barbeque.

Cute cake! OMG, I'm a quarter of a century old now!!

Last day. Goofing off at the park before they all headed home.

I'm so glad they are as crazy (if not crazier!) about taking pictures as I am. Seems like we ate a lot since most of the pics are at or around restaurants! There were soo many to choose from but I think I hit all the highlights. We all had a great time and I was so glad they could make the trek. Thanks again you guys!

5 years ago today...

On 10-02-04, us two became one...

We were married at a local hotel on 10/02/04 at 1 pm. It's strange how fast that moment passes a person by. It was pretty much a blur. All that planning and prepping for, what seemed like, eternity was over in just a few short hours. My face hurt all night from smiling so much that day. I wanted to share a few pics although most of you have already seen them...

i now pronounce you: mr. and mrs. brandon and penelope scow. true, but funny story about the ceremony: the officiator called brandon, "roger" because we used the same format as my uncle roger's wedding. aaron, the officiator, was reading it verbatim and read roger instead of remembering that he was talking to brandon. i don't think many people noticed but he apologized profusely afterwards. it was more funny than anything else.

here we are cutting the cake. for those you wondering we did not attack each other with the cake. brandon was waiting for it though. he told me he would hunt me down if i got any on him.

one of my favorite pics of us on that day.

quick recap of the last 5 years...

• we adopted our baby, mamma (a part grey tabby, part calico and a small part dog, kitty:)
• we moved from ogden to salt lake
• i graduated with a bachelor's degree in psych and am in my 3rd (and final!!) year as a master's student
• brandon has worked tirelessly at remodeling our last home and is now working on our current home

we have strengthened ties between family and friends which we have found to be the most important thing to us. we've loved, we've fought, we've cried (well mostly i have cuz i'm a self-proclaimed "crier":), we've had good days and bad. we've shared major losses and gains with each other, our hopes and dreams, and we are looking forward to many more years and milestones together. here's to us and our future and all those who play parts in our lives, we couldn't do it without you and your support.

awwww, how tender!!