Baby Sebastian

Meet Sebastian Oliver Espinosa!

Born September 16th at 8:04pm to my sister Vanessa and her husband Stefan.
Scott and I were so excited that they wanted us to take some pictures of the little guy. (Scott was the photographer and I was the editor). He is a total stud.
Enjoy!

Adorable Owl Hat made by my friend Chelsea at achickwsticks.blogspot.com

Hawaii!

Well.... We went to Hawaii. Yes, that's right. 12 perfect days in paradise!
We had a wonderful time relaxing in the pool and seeing the sites.
We spent the first two days in Waikiki and then traveled on up to the North Shore where we stayed for a week and a half at my parents condo at Turtle Bay. It was heavenly. Our favorite part was the swimming pool. I also liked the bull frogs that would come out at night. :)
While we were there we were able to do the typical tourist thing and see Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, etc. But we also got to do some snorkeling, kayaking, LOTS of swimming, turtle watching, crab chasing, gecko gawking, and food feasting. We also did some remodel work on my parents condo, which was greatly needed. We pretty much painted the whole place and replaced light fixtures, faucets, bed spreads, etc. By the time we left, we wanted to move in. :) Here are some before and after shots...

Bathroom Light Fixture HAD to go....
Someone was NOT smart when they did this back in the 60's.... SO... We just added a little white paint And here we have the hideous hallway with the random grass fans lonely on the scotch tape colored walls.....
A little artwork, an area rug and some paint... and Vuah-lah!
And next we come to the sad, sad bedroom............
One 98$ bedspread from Walmart and a new painting and........
So this is what the walls looked like throughout the condo. Paint was chipping and cracked all over the place! We had to strip off all the paint in the bathroom and re-texture the walls and ceiling before re-painting... but BOY did it make a WORLD of difference.
This is the fun blue wall I wanted to do to add some color to the place. I mentioned earlier that the previous color was EXACTLY the same as Scotch tape. NOT pleasant.
Here is another shot of the paint condition.......
And here is how it looked after we fixed it :)
Ahhhh the leaky faucet from 1960. This baby caused some major stress. We pretty much had to BREAK it out of there because it had rusted so bad. BUT.... The replacement was EVER so much better and made the stresses totally worth it.
The bathroom shower curtain was just SCREAMING to be replaced...
Thank you Walmart once again for you 12$ room-saver of a curtain.
Here is another view of the kitchen/dining room/tv area with my blue wall from a different angle. :)There were a few other improvements that we made that I am too lazy to post on here, but I think we did a pretty awesome job and it is fun to look at the before and after shots. Hopefully we can put these new ones up on the rental web site and get my parent's condo booked up with renters now!!

Anyway........ Hawaii is wonderful and I hope I can return again someday with Scott and perhaps our 6 little children. :)
Aloha!!

Tummy.

I have a new addiction. . . . Pinterest. You heard me right, Pinterest.
And for all of you out there who have not been brought to the light.... let me bring you. Pinterest.com is the place to be. It has made my life so... well... AWESOME. I have found countless recipes and craft ideas that have all proved to be simply amazing.

One thing, however that I have recently found quite disturbing are the people on pinterest who think things like this:

are healthy.

Now.... don't get me wrong... I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to have "inspiration" when dieting... But if there is one thing I have learned over the past 5 months working for Avalon Hills (a residential eating disorder facility), it is that the VAST majority of our society today has a VERY disordered/skewed way of viewing the human body. We are told that this:

is normal. Um..... Guess what people.... IT'S NOT. And yet.... This is what society tells us is "pretty" and "normal". This is what we are all supposed to look like! .......NO......... NOT SO.

I found the following quote on a random person's "life inspiration" board:
Now... don't get me wrong... I am not advocating eating pizza and cookies all day long every day, but I also don't believe that a person's confidence in life should be based on having protruding hip bones and gaps between your thighs. That's not normal. That is not how we are meant to be.

I did find an ad by Nike that portrays a more accurate body type. One much closer to the way we SHOULD be and it was encouraging to me.. that perhaps not all is lost:


It breaks my heart to see these girls each day, living with a disease that will never leave them. They are 6 feet 4 inches tall and weigh 70 pounds but when they look in the mirror, they are disgusted with themselves and think they are "fat". At 6 foot 4, these girls should weigh TWICE what they weigh, but to them, that is unacceptable and revolting.

Why is this? Why has this become such an epidemic in our society? Yes, I wish I weighed a bit less and had toned legs and buns of steel... but after having my eyes opened to the reality of body image, I now know where to draw the line.

It is incredible what the media has done to the world. Society used to idolize the REAL women of the 20's and 30's... the "bathing beauties". But today we idolize underweight, unnatural women who have turned the lives of so many women upside down. I feel so strongly about this subject, as I am sure you can see, and one of the reasons is because I know what can happen when we fall in to the trap of unhealthy body image. Most of these girls will never have children. They will live with medical diseases and issues the rest of their lives..... all because to them... "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

Summer is half WHAT?!

It's true... Summer is already half over. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!
Seriously though........ I don't understand it.


First off: Happiest moment of my life aside from marrying the man of my dreams: Going to the u2 360 TOUR! WOOHOO!!! Pretty much....... INSANELY AMAZING and a Dream Come True. And here you can see us swooning over Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen



Anyway.... Life is good. Scott and I were able to escape from everyday life and take a trip down to SLC where we enjoyed the best meal (possibly of our lives... certainly the most expensive) EVER at The Melting Pot thanks to our sweet sister Brittany and her hubby Matt. :) After dinner we crashed at "The Plaza" in Downtown Salt Lake, which brought back some really wonderful memories for me from when I was young and used to go there with my entire extended family around Christmas time. We would hit the town for shopping, walk past the ZCMI Christmas window displays, see "the lights" at Temple Square, swim in the pool, eat at JB's and of course... Play LOTS and LOTS of cards. Those were the days.



To celebrate the 4th of July, we had a fun party at my parents' house complete with firework show, lemon basil grilled chicken, White Owl Burgers, Grilled Corn, Homemade Rootbeer and three delicious desserts, one made by my incredible friend Emily. Super fun. Scott and I also made a stop at a local firework stand and bought some fun little explosives on the side. :)


Of course, my very favorite part of the summer has to be the shows. What shows you ask?! Why, the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater shows of course!! This year we get to enjoy "Oliver!" "The Merry Widow" "8 Hands, 2 Pianos" "Don Giovanni" "Boris Godunov" "South Pacific" "A Tribute to George Gershwin" "Carnevale Operafesta" "Musica Magnifica" "The International Operatic Competition" and "Mozart's Requiem". Wow... What a lineup! It just wouldn't be summertime without "the shows". But oh how I do miss being in them. Tis true.



Well......... Upcoming events in the Biggs' family: Meeting with the Stake President (Scott and I have bets on who we think is getting the new calling), A fun visit from the Braatz family, A fun visit from Grandma Stephenson and Mom and Dad Biggs, Finding a new home for our Rooster, The Biggs/Heder Reunion, Windrivers Trip, HARRY POTTER 7 PART 2!!!!!! (Yes, I am excited about that one), Making yummy things with the 20 fresh vanilla beans I have recently come to own, HAWAII!!!!!!!!! (yes, also very excited about this one), Hopefully some awesome sushi parties, the birth of my nephew Baby Espinosa, Uhhhhh.......... I know there's more but.. it's late and I am not thinking clearly. .. Hence the reason this blog post is so incredibly lame.

Alright, fine. I will end it.... But not without a picture of our cute Bono.....