A cake with Elk and Bears

Yep. That is what Lane asked for when she called the cake shop. For guess who's birthday? No one but Mergs!

This is what we picked up from the cake shop. You would have thought Mergs won the lottery when he saw this cake. He got a big grin and said "It has an elk on it!!!! You guys know me too well." He probably thanked us for the cake 20 times. It was a dream cake ;)
This was the grin and this was part one of the thank you hugs! I was dying!
Ace had a little birthday party for him up at his house.
Mergs brought home like 12 lbs of shrimp from Alaska for everyone to cook up and eat.

Us 4....friends for 10 plus years. I'm about to jump up for joy about it.
Laughing and loving it!
Ok, now this is funny. You know how people pose for a picture and all the girls are trying to be in back or hide behind someone as to not look 'fat' in the pic. Well Mergs shoved Lane and I in front of him for this pic as to make him look small and us look BIG! Ha ha good one Mergs!
Thanks Ace once again for having us up.
We all had a fun time.
Happy 33rd!

Silver Lake

A trip to Silver Lake is a tradition my parents have every summer. Yesterday my cute mom and I went up. It's right past Brighton ski resort.
You take a BEAUTIFUL 20 min walk around the lake.
Feed the ducks apples because that's all you have with you.
Get fishing away!
Then you can have a picnic by the lake. My mom made some lunch and we loved life and ate it up.

You should go up before the summer is over. It's a dream!

Smore Goodbyes

I had to say good bye to this boy for a big long MONTH! That's right. Brandon left the state of Utah the other day for ONE MONTH! :(

He'll be away on business and also a surprise visit to Florida for his mom's birthday. Ok ok, I will be able to see him before the month is up. To make up for it, he is whisking me away on a romantic vacation to the VIRGIN ISLANDS!

HA! Let's get real here. That is not entirely true. I am actually just crashing the planned boys trip to the VI. His best friend Nate turns 30 and 3 best friends were going. A few weeks ago Brandon invited me along. I will do the honors! Can't wait! We will meet up in Atlanta and fly there together!
Saturday night we had a SMORE PARTY!
Ace has the perfect setting for a chill night by the fire.
Roasting away with the city lights in the background. A dream!
Can't beat a night with your best friends!
Beccs and Chris
Me and Mr. Exec
Cute Lane and Ace. I spent Sunday evening with them reminiscing on the past ten years together. We all met 10 YEARS AGO in Hawaii! The fun thing about having your man out of town is the great phone conversations that you get to have. Last night I was talking to him and we were planning our Halloween costumes....

This is what we came up with! Oh you know it. Dressed up in Dodge ball costumes of course! I don't want to spoil the surprise so I'll just leave it as this.
Loved this night. I'll take S'more! :)

Tom Cruise on Home Teaching

When I lived in the avenues I met Cameron Sawyer who became a good friend of mine. We caught up the other night and I asked him how he is doing in LA. Is he acting, directing etc? That conversation led him into sharing this little video he did for a ward in California. I love it! It's ways funny....you should share it with your wards!

Take me...

OUT TO THE BALL GAME!

Take me out to the crowd!
Buy me a bratwurst and I'm happy!

Two men on base. 10th inning. Down by two....HOME RUN!!! Summer nights at the Bees game can always make me smile.

Foriegn Exchange

For as long as I can remember, my parents have always opened their home to anyone in need. These boys from Paraguay are their most recent visitors staying at the Hughes abode.


It all started with Corina from Germany who looked something like this. Yes, white with a big afro. I know. She was a dream I think. I was very young and she helped nanny when my mom had 5 small children. The most famous story of Corina was when we took her to Tijuana and someone slipped that we had a German with us. Oh boy! That got those Mexicans all in a huff and we were stuck at the border for hours!

Our next exchange students were Kunahero and June from Japan. This is what Kuna looked like. For years on end after his stay with us he would call my parents and the conversation went a little like this

Kuna: "Hello! I come!"

My dad: "Oh great Kunahero. When are you coming?"

Kuna: "I here!"

My dad: "What? You're HERE?"

Kuna: "I at bus stop. You come get me?"

And so it went. One time he showed up and we were out of town! By the time I was a teenager I was teaching him all sorts of interesting new words in English. "Kiss my grass!! What mean?"

Yesterday we had a little harp/guitar jam session. This guy is only 13 and he is awesome! Our repertoire together mostly consisted of songs like 'Labamba' and 'La cucaracha'. Spanish style for life!
Then we took them down to temple square for a tour.
The Hermanita from Argentina is DOIN' the WORK! :)

They really loved it. They are so appreciative and fascinated with everything here in the US.

It was so funny. As we walked around temple square Ro would frequently blurt out. "Alright! These guys are from Paraguay. You know, U-R-gay!" He's trying to be Homer from this clip. Watch it. So funny.

I loved pulling out my Spanish and hangin with these cute boys all day. They were so nice calling Becca and I 'beautiful princesses' all day :) We'll take it! My mom is loving having them there and feeding them her famous German pancakes of course!

Family reunion

Welcome to the 'Finenco' Family Reunion! Ok, this is just what Brandon likes to call it. However, it is really his 'adopted family' reunion.

It was an absolute blast!! Look at this big slip-n-slide behind Brandon and Nate.

Too bad this is a private place so we can't go back. It is so charming! Look at this cute barn where we ate dinner, made crafts and watched movies.
There was this cute lake with people paddling around and this big platform for.....
ZIP LINING!!!
So excited!!
So high in the sky...zipping into the..
lake!!
We also jumped off the platform
I love hanging out with girls this age. It reminds of when I was young and my brother's girlfriends would give me some attention and someone to look up to. It was the best!

Oh sweeties! Everyone has a good time at the FR! Even the bored faces are a good time :)