Auntie Amy

A New Discovery

2010-08-16T23:07:00.001-07:00

Dave found this great hiking trail. It is only 2 miles and pretty simple. The best part is that you hike up to this beautiful lake.

Hiking, A Dare, & A Dip In The Lake

2010-08-16T23:02:00.001-07:00

I think the title of this post pretty much sums up what happened. Me, Nya, and Dave went on a hike. It was sooooo hot!! When Nya and I saw the lake we ran to put our feet in it. Nya dared me to take a dip in the lake. So I did it. I think Nya and Dave were a little shocked at first that I actually did it.

I finally got Nya to come and take a dip with me. We had a blast!!!

Oh No! I lost my hat!!

2010-08-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

We took Nya hiking with us one morning. We hiked to the lake and Nya was just getting in the water when there was a big burst of wind. It blew her hat off her head and into the lake.

Thankfully, Uncle Dave held onto her hat so she could play in the lake.

Hiking

2010-08-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

Dave went hiking with Stacey, Trent, and Blake

Temple Square

2010-08-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake Temple

Dave's sister Sarelle came to Utah for a week this summer. It was so good to see Sarelle, Shane, and the boys. It just so happened that Sarelle was able to have Trey baptised in Orem so all the family could be present. I didn't get any pictures at the baptism, but we did get a picture with Trey when we went to Temple Square.

Stacey, Sierra, Sarelle, & Shane

We took a tour of the Conference Center. This is the view from the roof.

4th of July

2010-08-16T22:33:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Matt & Bekah for a great 4th of July party!!!!!

4th of July Pinata

2010-08-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

All the kids had fun with the Pinata

Kids going totally crazy to get as much candy as possible.

4th of July "Knock Out"

2010-08-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of the bouncy house's had a boxing ring. The gloves were huge and Matt took on Mike. It was a great match and didn't last that long, but we all had a great time watching.

Hiking Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

One of the activities that we did was go on a hike. I was concerned about going on a hike that might be too difficult. We did have 3 toddler's and a baby with us. The week before the reunion Me, Bekah, & Dave went out in search of a good hike. We went to several trails. At the first trail it was really steep. I said to Bekah "I think this is too hard. I don't think the little kids will be able to do it" The fact that I am so overweight and out of shape Rebekah and I agreed that I can represent the toddler's. If I felt I couldn't do it, then the little one's probably wouldn't be able to do it either. We had a good laugh about me not being able to do a lot of the trails.

George and Kate roughing it off the trail.

Rebekah told me that every time Nya goes hiking she say's "I hope I see a snake". Nya has been on a ton of hikes and has never seen a snake. Well on our hike there were two trails. One was easy and the other was a little harder. Dave took one group on the harder trail. As he was walking along the trail he all of the sudden jumped about a foot and yelled "SNAKE". At first he thought it was a rattlesnake, thankfully it wasn't. All of the kids were so excited. Nya finally got her wish, she saw a snake.

Me, Dave & Kate

Hiking Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

Kate, Nya, Katya, Cali, & Juliette

Sarah with her huge walking stick

Olympic Park Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

We went to the Olympic Park in Park City. We watched the ski jumpers as we ate lunch. It was really cool to see them go off the jumps and land in the water.

Trying out the Bobsled. We may have some future olympians here.

While the majority of the family went to do the Alpine slide and Zip-line, I went to Nya's dress rehearsal for her dance class.

Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Juliette & Katya

Jack & Daisy (Daisy is such a good sport)

Classic picture of Mom

Picture's of Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Juliette

George & Nathan wishing Dad a Happy Father's day via Skype.

Juliette

Katya & Cali

Anna

Picture's of Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Mom & Aunt Lettie

Disclaimer - To all my brother's with your large ego's. I am not showing any favoritism towards George. It just turned out that I had a lot of good picture's with him in it. I know as George is reading this that he is saying that he is the "best looking brother" and that is why there are so many pictures of him. I must apologize to Jethro, Gideon, and Nathan, because we all know George is never going to let any of us forget that I had the most pictures of him on my blogs.

George & Amy

George & Sarah

George & Kate

Gideon, Becky & Parker

Picture's of Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Katya

Cali

Nathan

Becky, Parker, Sarah, and Emma

George and Amy

Picture's of Family (Reunion July 2010)

2010-08-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Jonah

Dave, Nathan, and Amy

Jack is such a happy boy, I just couldn't get him to smile for me.

Andrea & Emma

Sarah

Action Shots (Reunion July 2010)

2010-08-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

After Tenzing's blessing we went to Jethro's for a BBQ.

The boys always like to get together and throw football's and Frisbee's.

Family Reunion July 2010

2010-08-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

This year we had our family reunion in Salt Lake. Everyone was able to make it except for Dad and Ana who live in Brazil. It was so good to be with all of my family. Here are some highlights.

Tenzing's Blessing

Jethro decided to wait until the family reunion to bless Tenzing so all of us could be there. I can't beleive that I didn't get a picture of Tenzing on the day of his blessing!!!!!! At least he is in the group shot with all the kids.

Mom

All the grandkids (It was tough to get a picture where everyone was looking at the camera)

2 Little Angels

2010-03-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

In February I was very happy to get two new Nephew's. On February 10th Jethro and Staci welcomed their baby boy Tenzing Hawks Jones. He was born via C-Section and was healthy as can be. Unfortunately, about a week after he was home he got RSV and had to be admitted to the hospital. He was there for five days. He was able to come home, but he had to be on Oxygen for a few more days at home. He is doing much better now and we are all happy about that.

On Febuary 25th Cameron and Shayna welcomed their baby boy Cole Ryan Henke. He was born strong and healthy.

Both these little angels are as cute as can be. My computer is broken so I am not able to post any pictures. But if you go to "Blogs I Love" you can click on Shayna's blog and also on Jethro and Staci's to check out the major cuteness!!

I'm excited for April to come when Gideon and Becky will be welcoming their baby boy. I can't believe it, three new nephew's this year. I am lucky!!!

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

2009 certainly has been a challenging year for Dave and I. With all my health problems and Dave being unemployed we certainly have had our trials. I would like to thank many of our friends and families that have supported us through these difficult times. While 2009 was challenging we are grateful for the simple things in life. A roof over our head, a car to drive, food to eat, clothes to wear and lots of good DVD's that we have to keep us entertained. We have also enjoyed the time we have spent with family and are so blessed to have so many relatives living close by. Most importantly, we are thankful for our loving Heavenly Father who has watched over us and shown his love for us in many different ways. I love all of you and am grateful to have you in my life. Happy New Year!!!!

Festival of Tree's

2009-12-06T19:36:00.001-08:00

Dave, Rebekah, Conan, and I all went to the Festival of Tree's. It was at the South Town Expo Center in Sandy. Finding a parking spot was a big challenge. But thanks to aggressive driving (Rebekah) and sharp eye's (Dave) we finally found a spot. The Festival of Tree's is held every year here. People donate decorated Christmas Tree's. All of the tree's are very elaborate. The tree's are then auctioned off in a private auction. Many of the tree's go for thousands and thousands of dollars. 100 % of the proceeds go to the Primary Children's Hospital. Even the cost of admission goes to them.

I'd like to thank Jethro and Staci Jones for purchasing this tree.

Just kidding, they didn't buy it. Rebekah saw the sign that said "Purchased by the Jones Family" and we thought that was cool since that is our last name (well our maiden name).

This is both mine and Dave's favorite tree. We both love Sharks! Never thought I would see a Christmas tree decorated as a "Shark Theme" but it was awesome.

As we were walking around looking at all of the tree's Dave said "I bet I could make one out of Granite" Then we turned the corner and lo and behold we saw this tree! It is out of stone and we thought it was pretty cool.

This tree is of Jack Skeleton. I kept trying to get a picture and people kept walking in front of it. I deleted all those but kept this one. It looks really cool because I think I saw that lady walking and snapped the picture, but moved my hand at the same time, so the picture of the tree looks cool. Thankfully Dave and I both had our camera's and he was able to get a good picture.

There was also a large display of Gingerbread houses. They were cool.

This is a cake! Amazing! I loved it because there are three shows I really like on the Food Network and TLC. The Food Challenge Cake Off, Ace of Cakes, and Cake Boss. They all make these totally unbelievable cakes. So seeing a cake in person that I could see one of these people making was pretty cool.
It was really hard to get pictures of the tree's because it was so packed. But there were so many that I thought were so cool that I wanted to share them with you. As you are looking at the tree's you will think we took picture's of every tree! We didn't! There were hundred's and hundred's of tree's. All different sizes... from 1 foot - 12 ft. You will have to click on each picture to enlarge it so you can see the detail. They also had wreathes and quilt's but I didn't get any pictures of those.

Temple

2009-12-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today I decided that I would go to the temple. I decided to go to the Jordan River Temple since it is the closet Temple that has clothing rental. I got there and saw the sign that said "Temple closed from Nov 30 - Dec 21st. Bummer! At least I got this beautiful picture.

Most Talented Mom Award!

2009-11-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

I love my Mom so much! She is so talented in many aspects of her life. One of her greatest talents are her handmade items. Growing up my Mom was always working on some project. Whether it was cross-stitching, knitting, crocheting, sewing, or making quilts, everything she did turned out perfect. If it wasn't perfect, she would undo the entire thing and start over. It's funny, you can ask each one of my brothers and sisters, and they will all have a story to share about my Mom and her perfection in making these things. I have many memories of my Mom knitting baby blankets, she would almost be done and start looking over the item with a fine tooth comb. If she found one stitch out of place, she would unravel the entire blanket and start over. I think that is why the things she makes are so coveted. Many people have enjoyed the gifts that my Mom has given them throughout the years. Enjoying the beauty of the items she creates and knowing the time involved in creating them makes everything so special.

This Thanksgiving my Mom made Dave and I this beautiful queen size quilt.

I absolutely love it!! I can't believe the detail! Actually, knowing my Mom I can believe it, but it still amazes me.

When my Mom makes her quilts she always signs them by stitching her name along the edge. It is kind of fun to inspect a quilt and try and find her stitched signature. My Mom added this special touch to the back corner of our quilt and it really meant a lot to me. In fact it made me cry....

Last year, my Mom made Dave and I Christmas Stockings.

She also made us this table runner. It is quilted, but it is hard to tell in this picture.

I am so grateful to have such a wonderful Mother who has taught me so much throughout my life. Even as an adult, she is still teaching me new things. I LOVE YOU MOM!

Ouch! A trip to the ER!

2009-09-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday night started out great. Nya helped Dave finish up a Halloween Clock that he made.

Then, Dave and I decided to take Cali, Katya, Nya, and Daisy (Bekah's Dog) for a walk around the block.

Dave was running back and forth with Daisy and she was loving it. Daisy loves to run. The girls were having fun running too. I decided to walk, however Cali running was as fast as me just walking.

We were on the final street home and I hear a yell from Dave. I didn't really look up because he had been playing and laughing with the girls, so I thought he was just playing. Then I looked up and saw him laying on the ground. He was running with Daisy down the street and his foot caught the edge of someone's lawn and down he went. He tried to land on the grass but didn't make it. His knees hit the cement instead. As soon as Cali saw that he was hurt and bleeding she started crying. In fact she cried the rest of the way home. She felt bad for Dave. When Nya saw he was hurt she said "I have to run home and tell my Mommy that Dave got hurt". Dave didn't think he could walk so I told him to stay put and I would go get the car. By the time I got back to the house with the girls and dog, Dave was limping along and made it back.

Once inside we put ice on it immediately. All the little girls were standing around him concerned. Nya said he needed some band aids and she was quick to assist in that. Band aids make everything better right? Right above Dave's knee it started to swell very quickly. He iced it for about 15 minutes. We decided to head home and when he stood he felt a sharp pain and something move in his knee. We decided to go to the ER to have an x-ray taken and have it checked out. You never know with a knee injury. By the time we arrived at the ER his knee was swollen to about the size of a grapefruit.

We arrived at the Murry Hospital around 9:00 p.m. and no one was in the waiting room. So they were able to take us straight back to a room. Just a side note, on the way to the hospital I told Dave that I thought we would be there until 2:30 a.m. He said "No, I bet we will be there until 11:30". I thought there was no way, but sure enough we were out of there by 11:30. Thank goodness.

The nurse asked Dave what his pain level was and he said that when it happened it was a "10", but since the pain meds kicked in he was about a "2".The Doctor was examining Dave's knee. All of the sudden the stool the Doctor was sitting on slipped from under him. The Doctor had the look of fear on his face as he grabbed the counter and Dave's bed. Then he just stood up and continued the exam. It was so funny. I had to try so hard not to laugh while he was in the room. After he left and we figured he was far enough down the hall, Dave and I just busted up. I think the Doctor should have read this sign that was posted on the wall in the room. It's about how to "Prevent a Fall" while in the hospital.

Well thankfully Dave is o.k. The x-ray's showed no fractures and the Doctor's exam ruled out any other injury. So Dave has to stay off his knee today and continue to ice it. He is super sore and probably will be for the next week. We are just glad that he didn't seriously injure his knee.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-09-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Friday night Dave and I went to the temple grounds of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was cool because we got there just as the sun was setting. So we got to see the Temple without the lights on and the lights on.

Front View

Side View

Back View

Temple Grounds

There were lots of clouds in the sky so we got some great pictures with the clouds in the background.

Good Times

2009-09-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Dave and I went to Matt and Rebekah's again. Matt and Rebekah are the best entertainers. They love to have people come to their house for B-Que's and just to have a good time. There are always so many people there and it is fun to meet new friends and see old ones. And of course it is good to spend time with family. Rebekah is a fabulous Mexican food cook. Matt is an excellent cook too. He made homemade Salsa, which was to die for. He also makes the best Carne Sada on the grill.

Thankfully Matt and Rebekah are here to make good Mexican Food. Matt and Bekah's sister-in-law Christina, makes delicious beans and Horchata. Since they are all from California, they have Mexican food nailed down. There are NO good Mexican Restaurants in Utah. There is one that everyone claims is so good "Cafe Rio". Everytime I go there I am totally disappointed. I personally think it is way over-rated and miss the good authentic Mexican Food from California.

Here is a picture of the tables before they were loaded with food.

Matt and Rebekah never disappoint. They rented this bouncy house with a water slide for the kids. They all were in 7th heaven.

Nya and Cali

Jethro, Cali, and Nya. Yeah Jethro for being a good sport and going down with your girls. Too bad you had your Ipod and Car Keys in your pocket the whole time. Oops! Bummer!

Jethro and Katya

Cute kids having a blast!

Apparently, there were two other kids who really became the life of the party. Matt and Dave! They got in the bouncy house and all the kids were happy to be bounced all over. Of course Matt and Dave couldn't resist the water slide.

Matt going down the slide.

Dave getting in the bouncy house.

In the bouncy house "Smile for the camera"

Getting ready to go down the slide.

Down you go!!!!!!!!!

Splash!!!!

Yes, he did get me wet from his splash and several other people. We were all laughing.

Of course, Matt couldn't let Rebekah miss out on the fun. So he picked her up and well, the pictures do the talking.

Watch out Rebekah!

Matt tackling Rebekah to make sure she gets good and wet. No escaping from Matt.

Bekah getting out.

Rebekah and Staci have Camera's that are way better than mine. So for some great shots be sure to check out Staci and Bekah's blog in the next few days.

Happy Birthday

2009-09-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my Birthday and it was packed full of fun. Dave got me the perfect card. I love Dragon Flies and he did a good job in picking this one out.

I was also proud of him for the color combination he used with the gift bag and tissue paper.

He got me a C.D. that I have wanted ever since it came out. It is my 2nd favorite group "The Black Eyed Peas". "Metallica" is my favorite group. Kind of funny that they are two completely different types of music. I pretty much like all kinds of music except for country.

Dave made me a yummy cake.

The finished product.

For lunch Dave took me to my favorite burger joint.

They have one in Sandy which is much closer to us, however it isn't nearly as good as the one in Orem. So we took a drive to Orem to partake of the yummy hamburgers.

We went to Matt and Rebekah's to see my Dad and his wife Ana. I was so happy to see them. They are here visiting from Brazil, where they live. It has been a little over three years since I have seen them. What a great Birthday Present!

Nya and two of her friends performed a dance that they made up for me. Here is a picture of Nya in her leotard.

Nya also gave me a present. It was wrapped in an envelope that she made herself. Then she gave me a bunch of Quarters, Dimes, Nichols, and Pennies that she got from her piggy bank. I was so touched. This cute little four year old was so sweet to think of me and give me money from her piggy bank. I'm sure it was a big sacrafice for her. It was about $1.50. TOO CUTE!

Then as we were leaving Nya was giving Matt a massage. So I snapped this picture.

A perfect way to end the day, watching the BYU vs. OU game. BYU won of course! Everyone was saying BYU was going to lose to this #3 ranked team. Guess OU sucks!!!!! I am also happy that my other favorite football team CAL kicked butt in their game too! So both my teams won. Happy Days!
Thanks to all of you who called, e-mailed, and sent me cards for my Birthday. You are the best!

Desert Adventure

2009-08-31T17:27:00.001-07:00

Friday, Dave had the idea of going out to a place where you can dig for Geodes. It was quite the drive, it took 2 1/2 hours. We went through Tooele and drove about 30 miles past town. We then proceeded down a dirt road that had quite a few rocks in the road so it was very bumpy. That was about 50 miles of dirt road (thrilling). I got car sick (which is very rare for me) and that made the trip seem that much longer. We were actually along the pony express trail so there were several monuments marking where the riders would stop. One place showed the entire trail and how it went out to Sacramento. Be sure to check out Dave's blog for additional pictures and stories. There is a link to his blog under "My Favorite Blogs". There were pretty mountains all over, but we were in the desert so they were very rugged.

I couldn't imagine any wild life surviving out there. However Dave did say we would probably see some antelope. All I could think of was rattle snakes. We finally reached our destination and it was a nice 97 degrees at 5:30 p.m. We got out and Dave found a location to start digging. We saw lots of little lizards and huge ant hills everywhere. We did see this huge lizard. It was about 8 inch's long from head to tail. Certainly it isn't the largest lizard in the world, however it was the largest one we saw. I love the spots on it.

There were all kinds of dirt roads all over the mountain and we were driving all over, looking for good spots to dig. Here is an example of where someone dug in the cliff looking for Geodes.

I'm glad Dave has a good sense of direction because I was totally lost. There were so many roads, with so many forks leading off them, I was paranoid we were going to be stuck on the mountain and have to be rescued. Although we didn't see a single soul out there and had no cell phone reception the lizards kept us company. And believe me, I kept my eye's on the ground and my ears open expecting a giant rattle snake to appear at anytime. Of course I never saw one or heard one, thank goodness! It was starting to get dark and we knew we had to get off that mountain before it became dark. I secretly wasn't drinking much water or eating any of the food we brought because I was positive we were going to get lost and have to spend the night in the car. So I wanted to make sure we would have food and water to survive on. I don't know why in the heck I was so paranoid this trip, but I think it was because we were seriously out in the middle of nowhere! We never did find any Geodes, but we did see circles in the ground where Geodes had been found, so that was cool. Needless to say, I wasn't really having much fun. I was hot and tired and digging in the side of clay cliffs really isn't my thing. Dave was loving it! I was relieved when it was time to go home.

I was disappointed that I hadn't seen any Antelope, or any other wild life besides lizards and ants. As soon as I was thinking that, Dave slammed on the brakes and there was an Antelope standing on the side of the road. It was beautiful and I loved the black markings that it had on its face. (See Dave's Blog for picture). As we continued on the wonderful 50 mile dirt road trek, my attitude change. We saw more and more Antelope. Usually one or two off in the distance. Suddenly, Dave slammed on the brakes again. There were about 4 Antelope standing in the middle of the road. Then we looked around and there was a herd of about 50 Antelope. I couldn't get all of them in a picture, but here are a few of them.

It was amazing. It was starting to get dark so they were coming out from their daily hiding grounds and it was so cool.

We continued driving, keeping our eyes peeled for any other Antelope that might decide to jump out in front of the car or just hang out on the road. Up in the distance I saw a cloud of dust. It was really large and I wondered if we were entering a dust storm.

We looked to the right and we saw a horse! That's cool! Then we saw another and another and another! They were running around and causing all the dust.

They were about 50 feet from the road. Then we realized it was a huge heard. Dave wanted to continue driving and see if we could find the head of the heard. Suddenly, the horses up further started forming a single file line. I tried to count as we drove by slowly, but I lost count with my awe at the beauty of these horses. We think there were about 100-150 of these wild horses. Unfortunately, all the pictures that I took that showed the a large amount of the herd didn't turn out. They were too dark. The leader of the herd was guiding all of them on a trail. I took these pictures inside the car without rolling the window down. So all the spots you are seeing are dead bugs on the window!

I love this picture because you can see the moon and the horses.

Just as we reached the lead horse there was a little pull out on the side of the road. We stopped there and just looked at this amazing site. At first we didn't want to get out of the car because we didn't know how they would react. But we decided to get out so we could see them better and I could attempt to get some pictures. The horses didn't even seem to notice us. At that time we saw down in a little gully, a large amount of water. That is where the horses were heading. It was amazing to hear the sounds of hoofs and the horses naying. It was also cool to see them in the water and hear them splashing as their hooves hit the water so they could drink. Unfortunately it was dusk and getting dark very quickly. The pictures I took didn't turn out to great, but you can get a general idea.

I also took some video on my camera. The quality is horrible. You can barely see them in the recording. We were able to see them just fine, but my camera wouldn't pick much up. It pauses for some reason in a lot of area's and again the quality isn't that great. It doesn't even come close to the experience that we had. But as I watch the video I get the chills from the wonderful memory I have seeing wildlife in nature. Unfortunately I have tried posting the video to the blog so you can see it. But I am having technical difficulties. So hopefully I will be able to post it at another time.

Soon the leader was back out of the water and after each horse had their fill of water, they got back into the single file line. They started to cross the dirt road. At this point we were back on the road and we just sat there and waited for all of them to cross. We had our lights on so we could see them. This is a picture that I took in the car. You can barely see the horses because of the clouds of dust they were causing. We could see them quite well, but again I am so disappointed in the quality of the pics.

It was like we were just waiting for a train to go by. Horse after horse after horse crossed the road to reach the other side of the desert. Needless to say, I told Dave "This was worth the entire trip". I don't think I will ever see anything this amazing again in my lifetime. You see things on the Discovery channel or on Animal Planet and it is neat. But to actually be there standing 50 feet from hundreds of wild horses is indescribable.

Over the Mountain and through the Woods

2009-08-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday night Dave and I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon over to Park City. The drive up the Canyon was beautiful. I love how the river is right next to the road and you can see it all the way up the mountain. The higher up we got the road became very steep and wound around and around. We reached the top of the mountain and the view was beautiful.We then proceeded down a very steep dirt road. The speed limit was 15 mph, just to give you an idea of how steep it was. After several miles we reached a paved road again. It was still very steep and we went right through Deer Valley. I had never been to Deer Valley, but their were lots of huge houses and the ski resorts were very nice. We ended up in Park City and got something to eat. From the restaurant we had a great view of the 2002 Winter Olympic Park and could see the ski jumps.

We went home through Heber and down Provo Canyon. It was a beautiful drive.

Oh yeah, and before we went over the mountain we stopped at the Temple Quarry. This is a picture of Dave in a dry river bed checking out all the white rocks. I love this picture because of the ray of sunshine coming down.

Corn, Corn, Corn

2009-08-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

Corn, Corn, Corn....

Dave and I went and worked at the cannery this morning. Our stake was scheduled from 8-12. I didn't sign up because I never saw the sign up sheet, so I went along anyway and figured there would be something for me to do. Well they put us right to work. I knew Dave was going to get a heavy labor job. Most of the men there were elderly and as soon as they saw Dave their eyes lit up. So he worked on the truck unloading all the corn. He unloaded 1 1/2 semi-trucks full of corn. They normally unload 2 semi trailors a day and Dave did 1 1/2 in 4 hours. The machinary was getting jammed with stocks so Dave even jummped in and helped with that. Way to go Dave!

I sat where all the corn came down the conveyor that had been cut from the Cob. I had to use another piece of corn as a "stick" and pull out any large pieces of the Cob that came through, pull out the stringy things from schucking the corn, and just make sure the corn niblits/kernals were flowing through the grate into the huge bucket for cleaning. At first I thought "Thank goodness I get a sit down job" Everyone around me was standing. Well after about 15 minutes I was envying those that were standing. I had to sit on this medal stool and lean way over to perform my job because the trash can had to be in front of me. My back was killing and I got soaking wet. My jeans were wet on both legs all the way up to my thighs. They had plastic aprons for us, but I was around so much water I was bound to get wet! Anyway, I just kept saying to myself "Suck it up" who cares about getting wet or a hurting back or whatever. I did just have a good attitude and was grateful that Dave and I had the time to go and serve. We certainly have received a lot of help these past few months with our situation and we were happy to serve.

Just to give you an idea on how much corn there was... The church has asked the Salt Lake cannery to produce 1.5 million cans of corn in 6 weeks. They usually do about 750,000 cans a year. So this is a huge task! They are producing cans 10 hrs/day and 6 days a week.

They think that by tomorrow they will reach the 750,000 can mark. They have 3 more weeks to go. They have done nothing else, but produce the canned corn. It is just amazing to see how the process worked. I don't think I will ever eat corn without thinking about this great opportunity that I had to help in accomplishing this grand goal.

With the current economic condition, the Bishop Warehouse's (Storehouse? I can't remember what the proper term is) have been stretched to their limits. So many people are out of jobs or had cuts in pay that they need the help. Canned corn is the most popular veggie at the Warehouse so that is why they need so much. I am so grateful that the church has this wonderful welfare system that helps people all over the world.

Oranges, Oranges, Oranges...

I remember when I was a teenager and we lived in Fallbrook, our stake would have assignments to go to the orange groves and pick oranges. I remember my Mom and Dad taking all of us kids to go pick oranges on Saturdays. It was hard work, especially when your bag got really full. The thing I remember most are all the spiders. Maybe that is why I hate spiders so much. Anyway, depending on the size of the orange, some would go to make juice and some would go to large bags to be consumed. They often had extra bags (about 20 pounds) and we would come home and have fresh squeezed O.J. it was so good. And again, this is a memory that I always have whenever I eat an orange or have some O.J. It is always good to serve, no matter what capacity it is in. That is one of the things I love most about the church. Everyone's willingness to serve.

Banana's, Banana's, Banana's...

Well I haven't really ever done anything with banana's except for eat them. Yes this was my lame attempt at humor. Ha, Ha, Ha!

Almost Done!

2009-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

I went to help Rebekah with her classroom again. We are getting close to being done. However Rebekah made the comment that you are never really done. That is true, teachers are always having to change things to make the classroom interesting for the students. It is a lot of hard work and I have to give a big "Thank You" to all of the teachers out there.

Calendar and days of the week

Job Chart

Word Chart

Writing all the kids names on their name strips so they know where to sit and get to know the other students. I love these name strips because they have the alphabet on them. I think they are super cute!

Yes, more laminating

The biggest job was preparing to get rid of all these old, old, old, books from the classroom. Some were as old as 1964. No offense to anyone who was born around that time. I am not trying to say that is so old, however for books the children need more up to date reading materials. I ended up with a few more boxes of books after I took this picture.

I had to stamp each book with this

Then I got to put all the new books in the baskets.

Roses

2009-08-20T16:10:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend Dave went to Trents house. He picked these pretty roses from Trents rose garden. I love the colors. It is always nice to have fresh flowers around the house.

Hiking

2009-08-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dave and I went for a hike. The night before he said "Let's get up at 7:00 and go hiking". Well we got up at 7:00, but didn't end up leaving until 9:00. I don't know why it took us 2 hours to get going. Anyway, it was a very easy hike. With my health I am still not up to doing anything too major. We went on a trail up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I remember taking my niece Nya up it last summer and she was only 3 at the time. She did the hike so I remember it being pretty easy. Anyway, Dave is just like a kid. The entire hike he kept stopping to check out rocks and the river.

Of course he saw this huge rock and had to climb it.

Something that I thought was cool were these bright orange berries that were high up in the trees. I have never seen them before, and believe me I have done a lot of hiking. (Last summer) It is always fun to discover new things out in nature.

At one point he even went in the river (which was freezing cold) to get some rocks and to pan for gold. He found a few flecks of gold. Too bad he didn't find a huge nugget, we would be rich :)

I started feeling really nauseous on the hike (probably because I was over doing it, even though it was easy) So I pretty much came home and had to spend the rest of the day in bed. I felt o.k. when I was laying down, but as soon as I got up the nausea was definitly in full force. Regardless, we had a great time out in nature. It is the first hike I have done since May so I was loving being in the mountains again. Enjoying the sounds of birds, squirels, lizards scurrying off the path, the river raging the mountain, and of course spending time with the love of my life, DAVE!

Time to Decorate

2009-08-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Friday Rebekah, Nya, and I went to the classroom to start decorating. One thing Rebekah wanted to be sure was that she got lots of bright, fun, and interesting colors for the children. The room was so bland, it really needed some help!

Here are some of the supplies that we got on Thursday.

Nya was in charge of decorating Rebekah's Desk. She did a mighty fine job!

Rebekah and I got started on placing the butcher paper and boarders. We thought all the bright colors and polka dot theme turned out great!

And of course tons of laminating all the dye cuts!

Of course after all the laminating comes cutting them out! That will be quite the task. Also on Monday we need to finish decorating the boards with all the cool stuff Bekah got. Again I was exhausted from my summer cold. Plus I am still recovering from the treatments that I had during the month of July, so I get tired really easily and can only do so much.

Cute Sierra

2009-08-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Friday night Dave and I were house sitting for Matt and Rebekah. We decided to invite Stacey, Juan and Sierra over to watch a movie. I love watching movies at Bekah's because they have the most amazing movie room I have ever seen. We watched Laura Croft Tomb Raider, which I have seen a ton of times, but I still love it and don't think I will ever get sick of it.

It was fun to see my cute niece Sierra, she is at such a fun age.

Busy Shopping Day

2009-08-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Rebekah is going to be teaching a.m. Kindergarten this year. She invited me to go shopping with her to get supplies and decorations for the classroom. I jumped at the chance to go because I have secretly always wanted to be a teacher, especially for all the cute teaching aide's they have out there. I would probably end up spending my whole salary just on that stuff. Anyway we started out at IKEA. We were there for about a 1 1/2 hours and it was fun to look at all the cool stuff they have there.

After IKEA we hit the dollar store to look for some storage containers for books, pens, pencils, glue, scissors , and whatever else we might find that would be good for the classroom. We were successful, which doesn't always happen at a dollar store, but we were satisfied with what we found.
After the dollar store we hit TJ-Max (sorry no pic). I'm sure you are thinking "What would you find there for the classroom"? Well we were looking for a large tin can that Bekah could use to put all her pointer sticks in. We were successful in finding something that would work.

Next stop, Lakeshore Learning Store. Oh my, I was most excited about this. This store is a teachers dream (or maybe just my dream) and has all kinds of cute things. We had to find a lot of supplies here and I was in 7th heaven helping Bekah choose boarders, calenders, word strips, name strips for the desks, posters, pointers, die cuts, and a few other things that I can't remember right now :). It was great.We then headed to Staci's to pick up Nya. It was great to see Katya and Cali too. We still had another stop to make and Rebekah thought Nya would enjoy this next stop. We went to the D.I. (no pic) to pick out books for the classroom. The classroom already had books, but they were all from the 1950's. Bekah wanted some nicer, updated books. Nya was great in helping choose books that she thought the children would enjoy. Nya was a big help in also putting all the books in the cart. The great thing about the D.I. is that all the books that Bekah got were only 50 cents. I think she got like 150 books or so. Lets just say the bags were very heavy. Nya wanted to pick out a toy, so I took her down the toy isle and she litterly looked at a ton of toys, wanting to make her decision very carefully. She could only choose one thing and she wanted that one thing to be extra special. She picked out a Dora doll that was totally dirty and it looked like some kid decided to chop the hair. Bekah and I were both like "Are you sure that is what you want"? Certainly there were several other toys that were in much better condition, but cute Nya wouldn't budge. When Nya got in the car she wanted to make sure Dora was safe so she buckled her in! Nya is too funny!By this time I was exhausted from our day of shopping! I have one of those great summer colds so I wasn't feeling to good. Rebekah still had a few more places that she wanted to go and I decided to go home. It was a great day and I enjoyed getting to spend some time with Rebekah.

Surprisingly Good

2009-08-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Dave and I love Redbox! It's nice because it's only a buck to rent. Every once in a while we will get a movie that we have never heard of, or that we think is probably only worth a dollar to watch. Anyway, we were renting a movie Wednesday night and Dave saw the movie "Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium".

Dave said that he had heard of it, but didn't know if it was good or not. I looked up the description and said "This looks totally lame! You can get it, but I am not going to watch it" So Dave rented the movie. I ended up watching it with him and it was surprisingly good! It stars Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Justin Bateman. It is about a magical toy store and quite funny. It is rated "G" which is a rare find these days. I think it came out in 2007, so it may not be easy to find. But if you come across it, I highly recommend it. In fact, it is a movie a I wouldn't mind owning.

Feeding the Ducks

2009-07-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday Dave and I got to experience the major cuteness of Katya and Cali feeding the ducks. Actually, they didn't get to feed them, Dave got to do that. The ducks and geese were too aggressive. As soon as the ducks and geese saw us walking across the field they came running right out of the water. I couldn't believe they had no fear. They were eating right out of Dave's hands. I was busy watching Katya and Cali to make sure that their little fingers weren't mistaken for bread. Katya and Cali loved seeing the ducks and geese and Dave and I sure enjoyed the time we got to spend with the girls.

Dancing Queen

2009-06-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today I went with Rebekah to Nya's dress rehearsal for her dance performance tomorrow night. The theme is The Wizard of Oz. Nya's dance class was Glenda the good witch. All those 4 year old's were so cute up there dancing. Of course I thought Nya was the cutest. I think the most exciting thing for Nya was that she got to wear make-up. At first she wouldn't let me take a picture of her because she wasn't done having her make-up applied yet.

Finally, the beauty queen was done and she gave me a nice pose.

Nya did a great job dancing and looked adorable.

What's Up With The Weather?

2009-04-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

The weather has really been driving me crazy. One week it is cold and snowing. The next week it is in the 70's. Then we get rain, snow, and more cold weather. I get really excited once spring comes. I love springtime when the flowers start to bloom, the tree's seem to come back to life, and the temperature is at a comfortable 70 degree's. (Except for this past month when the weather has been so moody).Last week Dave and I took advantage of the beautiful weather. We went on a great hike and it was exciting to see the river raging down the mountain. That means the snow is melting and there are more hikes in the near future.
Dave went up the side of the mountain to get a picture of the flowers that I posted above. They are so pretty. Thankfully, Dave is brave and tackled the steep mountain side. I sure wasn't going to go up there.

Hike

2009-03-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been so beautiful! The temperature has been in the 60's. Dave and I went hiking in Rock Canyon on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday we went hiking on the mountain behind the Draper Temple. We saw some deer which I thought was really cool. We also hiked in an area that had been caught in a fire. It was actually pretty neat to see the tree's still standing even though they were all black.

Weight Loss

2009-02-23T09:39:00.001-08:00

I started off the year with hopes of losing weight. I got off track and decided it is now time to get going. I began a new diet last Sunday. It is from a book by Dr. Mark Hyman. My mom did his weight loss plan and she was amazed at how great she fell. She has been after me to try it, so she sent me the book. There are several things that he suggests to cut out of your diet. Especially the first 6 weeks. No dairy, wheat products, sugar, soda, caffeine, or processed foods. I eat lots of veggies, fruit, organic brown rice, and lean meats. I am amazed at how good I felt just after one week. I have a lot more energy. The best part is that I lost 5 pounds. Now I have 45 more pounds to go! Ahhhh that sounds like so much, but I will do it. Last week I didn't include any exercising. This week I plan on starting back on Yoga. Yoga is a great form of exercise and it relieves alot of stress. My job is so stressful that I really need a good way to release that stress. Once spring comes and the weather is nice I will start walking again. I hope the snow in the mountains melts soon so I can start hiking. Hiking is my favorite form of exercise. Dave loves hiking too. So we plan on doing a lot of hiking this summer.

Adventures in Babysitting

2009-02-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night Dave and I babysat Katya and Cali. (See Jethro and Staci's post). We had a great time and the girls are so fun. They are both walking all over the place and they are so cute. It came time to put the girls to bed. They both went down just fine. Katya kept getting out of bed. Everytime she came out into the kitchen, which is about how far she got, I would tell her to get back in bed. She would go and climb back in bed. Seconds later she would be back out again. After about 15 times of telling her to get back in bed, I decided I would close the door so she couldn't escape. Dave and I were watching TV for about 15 minutes and I commented on how quiet the girls were. I figured they were sound asleep. I thought my closing the door had done the trick. I told Dave I was going to go check on the little angels. This is what I found when I opened the door.

Katya was also nice enough to share with Cali. I found in Cali's crib several mini bottles of baby shampoo and lotion as well as some other miscellaneous items. Of course as soon as I discovered all of this Jethro and Staci came home. They just laughed and Staci said "Welcome to my world"

Disneyland

2009-02-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

After we left San Diego we went to Disneyland for 3 days. We had a blast. It had been four years since Dave and I have been to Disneyland so we were both very excited. The first ride we went on was Indiana Jones. That is my favorite ride. My second favorite ride is Splash Mountain and Dave and I went on that after Indiana Jones. We on every ride in Disneyland and California Adventure. At least all the rides that were open. I do have to say by the third day we were all exhausted.

San Diego

2009-02-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

Well I figure since I went to San Diego a couple of weeks ago, I should probably get around to blogging about it.

We went with Cameron, Shayna, Courtney, Derek,

and Jenny

Dave and I had a wonderful time the few days we were in San Diego. I was really excited to show him some of my favorite places that I used to go when I lived there. Our first stop was Coronado. It was great to drive over the bridge that spans across the ocean as you arrive on the island. We went there in the evening and even played in the water. The water was cold, but after your feet went numb it was fine.

This picture shows the city of San Diego across the bay from Coronado.

On Sunday we went to Sea World. Another one of my favorite places. Our first destination was the Dolphin exhibit. We wanted to be sure to feed the Dolphin's so we could have the opportunity to be up close to them and pet them. It was so cool because anyone who bought fish to feed the Dolphins got to go to a special area that was roped off from everyone else so we got special access.

The best part of the entire Sea World trip was the Shark Encounter. For those of you who don't know, Sharks are my favorite animal. Dave's favorite animal is also a shark so we were in 7th heaven. We found out that for an extra $10 you can go behind the scene's and get a chance to pet a shark. We will have to do that for sure next time we visit. Cool shark teeth in the background. I am sure they are fake, but it is such a great exhibit.
We were just walking down the path to go to another exhibit and we saw all these flamingo's just walking around out in the open. There were Seaworld employee's present and I think they were herding them to the flamingo exhibit.
We saw a lot of shows. I always like to see the animals and all of the neat tricks they can do. It is amazing how high the dolphins and killer whales can jump out of the water.

On Monday we went to Pt. Loma, Seaport Village, and another one of my favorite places La Jolla. I love La Jolla because of the cliffs and because you get to see seals on the beach and in the ocean. It felt so good to be back home in San Diego. I loved being back at the beach and became a little homesick. I was happy to be able to share this special part of my life with Dave. Dave fell in love with San Diego and wants to move there now. I wouldn't be opposed to that, but only time will tell.

Diet Update

2009-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

I have improved my eating habits by about 50%. Not quite the 100% goal that I was going for, but every little bit counts. I have cut way back on the fast food which is a big help. I haven't exercised, which I think is the biggest key to weight loss. With being sick and having a lingering cough it has been hard to even talk without coughing. So the extra breathing it takes to work out would really do me in. ( Yes I know it is another excuse) The good thing is that I am going on vacation this Friday and we are going to Disneyland and Seaworld. We will be doing a lot of walking around. So I will be getting my exercise in. I won't be taking my protein shakes with me because I don't have a lot of room in my suitcase, so eating and sticking to my diet will be a challenge. I will try and do the best I can. I just hope this cough goes away by the time we leave. I am just excited to be back in Southern California. It will be like going home. I really miss San Diego and am really anxious to get back to the beach.

Have a Snack

2009-01-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick diet tip from me: ALWAYS HAVE A SNACK HANDY

I think one of the biggest reason's people have a hard time with diet's is that they are hungry. They starve themselves trying to cut back on calories and fat and before you know it... the hunger pains take control and you give up and binge. To avoid this, I like to always have a snack available. My favorite snack is cashew's. They are high in protein, so a small handful will satisfy me for a while. My hardest time of the day is late afternoon. For some reason I find myself starving after lunch. I can eat breakfast at 6:00 a.m. and go until noon no problem. I feel no need to eat, I'm not hungry, and I probably wouldn't even think about eating except that is when my scheduled lunch is at work. But, if I eat the exact same thing for lunch that I had for breakfast, or even something different, it really doesn't matter, I am starving within two hours. It drives me crazy!! So by the time I take my 3:00 break, guess what is calling???? The break room and all the vending machines. Well, having a baggie full of yummy cashews at my desk that I can pop in my mouth when needed helps crave the hunger urge. Followed by a cold 32 ounces of water and I am set until dinner. I also like to carry around a baggie of cashews in my purse. Never know when you are going to be stuck in traffic, held up in school, stuck in a long line at the grocery store, or whatever. Of course it doesn't have to be cashew's, it can be any healthy snack that is right for you and the eating plan you are on. Nuts just happen to fit perfectly into my eating plan.

There are those out there that point their fingers and say not to snack, stick to your meals, and don't graze. I say graze all day, as long as it is the right type of food. Of course if you graze on a bag of chips all day you are going to gain weight, everything needs to be in moderation, but you get what I mean. Have a good day!

DAY 1 - Excuses Are For Wimps

2009-01-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here is the report of my first day of my weight loss goal.

I actually did pretty good, but I have a few excuses, so I guess I am calling myself a wimp. I did have some soda because I still have a sore throat and cough. My job requires me to be on the phone 10 hours a day, therefore, the carbonation was needed. I did do "diet soda" so that was good. One other excuse to give, is I didn't work out today. I get up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for work. If I come straight home after work (which I rarely do) I don't get home until about 6:30. Well tonight was one of those nights where Dave and I had to make a couple of stops on the way home and we didn't get home until after 8:00. I was hungry, tired, and most of all my throat was so sore from talking on the phone for 10 hours while trying to get over this virus that I have. So there are my excuses for the Soda and not working out.

Here are some great things I accomplished on Day 1 of my diet:

I drank about 150 ounces of water, which is excellent. It is important to drink plenty of water, especially when you are trying to lose weight. Both my Doctor and Personal Trainer have recommended this formula:

Your Current Weight Divided by 2 = # of ounces of water you should be drinking daily.

For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, you should drink 75 ounces of water a day.

I drink way more than is suggested just because I have seen the benefits of drinking water and how it has helped me with my overall health, especially my weight loss. At first it may seem overwhelming to you to drink so much water. But after about a week (and many trips to the bathroom) your body will adjust and you will notice the difference.

Here are just a few benefits:

-Weight Loss (A full Tummy of H2O means you will not eat as much)

-Hydration (For Example -Your skin - Look Younger)

-Flush Toxins

-Healthy Skin

-Burn More Fat and Build More Muscle

-Keeps you brain healthy (Our brain tissue is 85% water, we want to keep our bodies hydrated so our brain can function properly)

- Boosts Energy Levels

So my challenge for each of you is to increase your intake of water. See what a difference it can make!

It is a little after midnight, so I technically didn't get this post in on "DAY 1" of my diet. I am up way to late and should be sleeping like a baby right now. More on that in a future post. Sweet Dreams....

Happy New Year

2009-01-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I worked on New Years Day and it was super busy! Just to give you an idea on how busy it was. The day before I took 74 calls and on New Years Day I took 102. Most people were friendly and thanked me for working on the holiday. I was fine with it because I was getting overtime pay.

Just a side note, I worked Christmas Day too. It was just as busy. For example, the day before Christmas I took 67 calls and on Christmas Day I took 107. I was thinking, "Don't these people have anything better to do on Christmas then call their credit card company????

Back to the New Year... I have been thinking of what goals I want to set for the New Year. The biggest one is losing weight. As many of you know, who have been following my blog for the past couple of years. I lost about 80 pounds. Anyone who wants to go back and read 2007 posts I talk a lot about my weight loss and kept everyone updated almost daily. It was really hard work, and I had to be super strict on my diet and exercise. In the summer of 2008, something happened. I can't explain what, but I just stopped exercising. I used to exercise about 6-7 days a week, and it went down to about 3 days a week, then 1, then 0. Then I started eating emotionally again. I was going through some really stressful things in my personal life and I turned to food. Not the healthy food that I learned to eat from Dr. Hendricks. I turned to ice cream, fast food, cookies, candy, milk shakes, and the list goes on and on and on. As I continued having these personal struggles in my life, I should have turned to exercise to relieve the stress, rather than turning to food. I mean, that is what I learned to do from my experience with losing 80 pounds. That is what I had been doing for the past 1 1/2 years (see posts from 2006/2007) Instead, I just kept eating. I got married in October of 2008 and I am so happy. But I haven't changed my eating habits. I am happier than I have ever been. But my eating habits are still not good. I have gained about 35 pounds back. Alot of it in my stomach so I am back to my larger size as far as clothes go. Of course this is painful for me to write, but so many of you have been supportive in my weight loss goals, and I feel if I write about this on my blog I won't want to let anyone down and I will want to post in a week that I have lost some weight.

There are some things that I am going to stop cold turkey again. No more Soda, Candy, ice cream, junk food, fast food, chips, etc. I will follow the Glycemic Index as far as my eating goes, the same way I did before. I will also be doing my protein shakes. Thanks to George for sending them to me.

So everyone wish me luck as I tackle my weight loss challenge again. It's crazy how it seems like I gradually gained the weight back and then all of the sudden I was just huge again. I mostly notice it in my stomach area, where I have always carried my weight, but it is amazing how it just seemed to sneak up on me. It is so uncomfortable. Things like putting my shoes on and shaving my legs is so uncomfortable with this large mass in the way. I will lose it. I've done it before and I will do it again.

Gettin' Down With The Sickness

2009-01-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog is dedicated to all of you "Disturbed" fans. For those of you who have no idea who Disturbed is, don't worry about it.

Anyway, I have been sick since Friday. I have the typical nasal & sinus congestion, cough, body aches, sore throat, headache, all the fun stuff that comes around this time of year. By the way, I copied all those symptoms off a Theraflu box since they all fit me perfectly. The only thing I left out was a fever. Thankfully I haven't had a fever. Anyway, when I woke up Friday morning I had white spots all over my throat, I decided it was time to attach with Vitamin C. Throughout the day I took about 15 Vitamin C, I did the same thing on Saturday. By Sunday all the white spots were gone. So I am glad about that. I still have a cough and no voice, which is horrible because my job requires me to be on the phones for 10 hours. So I had to call in sick to work on Friday and I called in sick today. I am still coughing really bad. I think by tomorrow I will be back at work.

I really can't complain about being sick for this short amount of time. Dave has been sick with a cough and sinus congestion for about 2 months. He has been to the doctor and been on different antibiotics and nothing seems to work. Hopefully he will get better soon!

The only good thing about being sick is that it is giving me a chance to write a few posts on my blog. I haven't been real up to date on my blogging and I am going to try and do better this year.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2009-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got a lot of snow. The news said to expect a couple of inches, but we got much more than that. Dave had to go out and shovel three times last night just to keep up. Here are some pictures of how much snow he has shoveled. Some is left over from a previous storm. But still it is a lot of snow!

Dave is 6'3 so that give's you an idea of how high this pile of snow is.

Is it worth a thumb?

2008-11-12T21:26:00.000-08:00

Dave made this beautiful Granite table. However it came at a price. While he was making one of the side wood pieces he was using a router and it jumped and he took off part of his thumb. (See previous post). This Granite is a dark green with gold speckles throughout. The picture doesn't do it justice. The wood on the side and feet are red oak and the leg is maple.

Dave is very talented and I am thrilled with the result of his work. We are hoping to sell this table along with some of his other work. So if there are any interested buyers out there let me know.

After many stitches, a lot of prayer, and a month of healing this is how his thumb looks. Much better than it looked a month ago. If you want to see those pictures you will have to request them and I will e-mail them to you. They are to graphic to post.

This is a picture of Dave's thumb about 10 days ago. You can see how much it has healed in just 10 days.

The Perfect Day

2008-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

DAVE & AMY HENKE

October 18, 2008

We were honored to have Bishop Heaps marry us. He said some wonderful things during the ceremony. He challenged us to set a goal to go to get sealed in the temple.
We got married at Dave's house in Orem at 11:30 a.m. It was the perfect day. The weather was ideal. It was in the mid seventies and I couldn't have been happier. We had our immediate family there to celebrate with us. Not all of my brothers and sisters were able to make it because it was such short notice. Both of Dave's brothers were there, his mom, and one of his sisters. He sister Sarelle, who lives in Georgia wasn't able to make it, however she will be here at Thanksgiving and I am anxious to meet her then.

Jenny, (Dave's Mom), Dave, Amy

Dave, Grandma Fisher, Amy

Dave's Family - Shayna, Cameron (brother), Dave, Amy, Jenny (mom), Trent(brother), Juan, Stacey, (sister) Derek, Courtney, Candace, BlakeMy Family - Rebekah (sister), Amy, Dave, Nya, Jethro (brother)

My Family
Grandmother & Granddaddy Gerstner, Katya, Jethro, Staci, Cali

Grandmother, Granddad, Matt, and Nya

I GOT MARRIED!!!!

2008-10-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to post this because I wanted to put pictures up, but this week has been so busy and I am working a lot of overtime, so pictures will have to come later. Just wanted everyone to know that Dave and I got married last Saturday. I am very happy and will give more details later.

Head Vs. Trunk

2008-10-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

As if there wasn't enough excitement with Dave chopping off part of his thumb last week. Yesterday I got a concussion because I hit my head so hard against Dave's trunk! Here's the story:
I opened Dave's trunk yesterday morning to put some things in. I didn't quite lift it all the way up and once I finished loading the first batch of items I lifted my head and hit my forehead on the trunk. I hit it pretty hard and it was one of those things where I was like "Dang, I should have opened the trunk all the way". Did I fix it at that time? Of course not, I just left it. I went back in the house to get more things. I was walking really fast because I was in a hurry. The way the trunk was open it was like it was in a blind spot and not in my line of vision. Next thing I knew I rammed right into the open hood. I hit it so hard that I instantly felt like I was going to throw up. My eyes did the tunnel vision and then went completely black. I grabbed onto the side of the car and just repeated in my mind "Please do not pass out, Please do not pass out" Then my eyes cleared and I was able to see. This time when I could see there were little bright lights floating in my line of vision. I was really dizzy and still sick to my stomach. I walked into the house and told Dave I hit my head and he said "Do you know you are bleeding?" I said "No" I went and looked in the mirror and sure enough I was bleeding. That made me feel even worse. Interesting how your minds works on you like that. I laid down for about 1/2 hour with ice on my head. So my nose and forehead were starting to swell. I was worried that I may have broke my nose. We had to go get our marriage licence, so we decided to go ahead and go do that. I still felt dizzy and disoriented but it felt good to get out in the fresh air. After getting the marriage licence (yeah I'm so excited) Dave dropped me off at my roommate's apartment so Linda and I could go to work. I got more ice, but I was feeling really weird. Linda said she could see the swelling and a bruise forming on my nose. We were heading to work and I was laying down in the car. She used to be an EMT and I was describing some of my symptom's to her. By the time we got to work I was really confused, disorientated, had double vision, a bad headache, and I was slurring my words. Once I talked to my supervisor she sent me to the Nurse at work, who after checking me over decided to send me home. Her biggest concern was my double vision, which would mean a head injury. She said if I still had double vision in 6 hours or I vomited that I needed to go to the ER for a CAT Scan. I was not looking forward to another trip to the ER. Rebekah came and picked me up from work. I stayed with her for a while. Then Staci took me back to Draper to my apartment and Dave came over and stayed with me. The nurse was very specific that she didn't want me to be alone in case I needed to go to the ER. So I felt like a kid again having a babysitter. Anyway, the double vision went away. I just have a massive headache still and am really swollen this morning. I do have some bruising on my nose and some swelling on my forehead but you can't really tell from the picture.

Thumb vs. Router

2008-10-12T20:20:00.001-07:00

On Friday Dave and I had quite an exciting day. I got a call from Dave at about 11:30 a.m. He told me that he was using the Router on some wood and chopped off part of his thumb. At the time he called me he was a little bit in shock and I could hear the panic in his voice. I was about 10 minutes away and told him I would be there right away and we would go to the E.R. I was at Walmart at the time and thankfully I was already loading my things in the car. The entire way to Dave's work I was praying that he would be o.k. At the same time he prayed that he would be calm.When I arrived he was waiting outside for me and had paper towels wrapped around his thumb. He wasn't sure how bad it was, but was sure he hit the bone. We were not sure if we should go to an Instant Care or the E.R. We went to my apartment in Draper, which is 5 minutes from Dave's shop to look on the Internet for an Urgent Care that was close by. We were kind of trying to make the best decision as to where we should go. Should we go to Urgent Care in Draper? Should we go to the E.R.? Should we go to Orem or Salt Lake? Dave suggested that maybe we should go to the hospital in Murray (near Salt Lake). But then Dave said he knew where an Urgent Care was in Orem, and since he lives in Orem we thought that was the best place to go. Of course we are sitting there debating this as he is bleeding and I was totally stressed out. Dave was totally calm.

We get on the freeway and I am going about 80 -85 m.p.h. I have a tendency to speed anyway. It is just my "go get em" personality and I always just do things fast when they need to get done. I was driving Dave's car and I think my speed was stressing him more than the fact that he was missing part of his thumb!! Anyway, he told me not to speed and to just drive the speed limit. Normally, I would have wanted to argue about this, but since I was driving his car and he was the one injured I kept my mouth shut.

We arrived at the Orem Urgent Care and of course we had to wait and wait and wait. They took us back and when they took off the paper towel that Dave had wrapped around his thumb, blood squirted out and hit the wall which was about 3 feet away. Blood was dripping down his had and into a bowl they had there and I thought I was going to be sick. I seriously couldn't believe it was still bleeding so much. By now it had been a few hours since the accident happened. The Doctor said that there is an artery at the end of the thumb and that is what he hit, so the moment you take pressure off of it, it will start to bleed again. They gave him a Tetanus shot and a shot of Morphine for the pain. They took an x-ray and sure enough Dave had taken off about 1/4" of the bone. At that time we were informed by the Doctor that they wouldn't be able to handle the injury at Urgent Care and they would need to send us to the E.R. So off we went to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.

I thought we had to wait a long time at the Urgent Care. That was nothing in comparison to the E.R. We waited a very long time in the waiting room, then they took us back in a room and we waited even longer to see the Doctor. Dave was still bleeding and I couldn't believe that they weren't stopping the bleeding. Once again when the Doctor took off the bandage the blood was unbelievable. They gave him a few shots of Lidacaine in his thumbs so the Doctor could examine it and not cause him a great deal of pain. After a few hours, the Doctor concluded that Dave would need to see a Hand Specialist and that he may need surgery. She tried to get a hold of a few but since it was a Friday night, no one wanted to come in. So she said that she called the hospital in Murray and that she was transferring us up there. I couldn't believe it. That is where Dave mentioned going in the first place!

We drove up to Murray and arrived at the E.R. and told them who we were. They were expecting us and got us right back. It was wonderful. Hardly any waiting before we saw a Doctor. She examined it and called the Hand Specialist. After speaking to him, he suggested to trim of the excessive skin, stitch what was remaining and for Dave to see him first thing Monday morning. So Dave got some more shots, got his thumb cleaned out, and got stitches. I looked at his thumb after it was cleaned out and I will spare you the gory details, but it was really bad. I even looked a few times when the Doctor was stitching him up and even though I felt like I may pass out I still looked.

It was a long day. It happened at about 11:30 a.m. and we didn't get home until 11:30 p.m. Dave was such a trooper. I can't believe how tolerant he has been with the pain. He has been very strong and I am so proud of him. I know I would have been a wimp.

First Snow

2008-10-12T09:41:00.001-07:00

Well even though I didn't want it to happen it did. It SNOWED!! I kept watching the weather and it said snow was coming. I didn't want to believe it and kept telling everyone "the weather is always wrong. It isn't going to snow." I guess I thought if I wished hard enough it wouldn't snow. Of course it did. I am just not ready for the snow yet. It is however, supposed to warm up this week and by next Saturday it is going to be in the 70's. More my type of weather. Last Winter was so long and one of the heaviest for snowfall in years. Naturally, that was my first winter here and I think that is why I am dreading it so much this year. Dave is thrilled about the snow and can't wait to get out in it.

Candy Bar Poster

2008-10-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

I made a candy bar poster for Dave. When I was in Jr. High I used to make these all the time. I figured it would be fun and Dave would like it. So I put on my creative hat and got to work. I put the candy bar's that I used in quotes. Please excuse my grammer and keep in mind that everything doesn't exactly flow because I was trying to make the candy bars fit into sentences.

Dave,

Since I have met you I have been filled with "Mounds" of crazy "Joy" (almond joy). It just gives me the "Chills" (tic tac chills) Sometimes I feel like an "Airhead" because I am dreaming about you. I'm looking at the stars, maybe even "Watchamacallit" oh yeah, the "Milky Way". I love the "Ring" (ring pop) you gave me. It makes me want to shower you with "Kisses" "Now & Later". I just can't wait until next "Payday" because I have another BIG surprise for you. I enjoyed the "Ice Breaker" we did on our first date. It made me realize what a "Big Hunk" and a "Hot Tamale" you are. I hot you don't think that I am a big "Nerd" for making this, but I thought you would enjoy it. You have been a real "Life Saver" ever since you came into my life. I know we will have many "Good & Plenty" times together. I know this poster has been a "Whopper" of jumbled sentences so please don't "Snicker" at it. Just know I made it because I love you Dave.

Sunday

2008-10-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Rebekah, Matt, and Nya finally got to meet Dave. We went to Rebekah's ward. We only made it to Sacrament meeting though.

Then went to Rebekah's house. We weren't able to stay long because we had an appointment with Bishop Bell. I asked Bishop Bell if he would marry us on the 11/15 and he said he would be happy to. So I can scratch that off my list of things to do for the wedding. Then we stopped back by Bekah's to change and then we had to go to Brande's to get a few things that I had to leave because we didn't have enough room to fit them in on Saturday.

After we left Brande's we went to Cameron and Shayna's to look at the engagement pictures. My favorite pictures were the one's that were taken in front of the red leaves. I love red leaves they are so pretty and so vibrant and full of color. We are going to go again on Saturday to take some more pictures. This time we are going to go up American Fork Canyon. We just want to have a good group of pictures to choose from. We are so lucky to have Shayna take the pictures for us. She is so talented. I also feel so blessed to have met Shayna she is such a great person and I really like her a lot. I am glad she is going to be my sister-in-law.

It's Offical

2008-10-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Dave proposed to me. It is funny that we already had a date set, told everyone we were getting married, were making wedding plans, and yet Dave still had not officially proposed to me yet. So on Saturday when we were hiking up Stewart Falls to have our engagement pictures taken Dave proposed. I was totally surprised. I knew he had purchased a ring, and I had suspected that he would probably propose to me on Saturday night or Sunday sometime. I didn't think he would propose on our hike and I thought it was perfect since we both love the mountains so much. So here is how Dave proposed

I was hiking ahead of Dave and Shayna by about 200 feet. I was with Cameron, Trent, Candace, and Blake (check out Shayna's blog for pics, the link is under my favorites). Dave yelled "Hey wait up". They all continued to hike, but I waited for Dave and Shayna. I of course gave Dave a big hug when he caught up. Then I turned around and proceeded to hike. I hear Dave say "Amy Jones" It took me a second to turn around. I thought in my mind that he was going to say something goofy since he used my first and last name. When I turned around he was down on one knee and had the ring in his finger. He had a big smile on his face and said "Amy will you marry me" I said "yes" then he put the ring on my finger.The ring is Titanium and has Gold lettering which says "Always and Forever". It has a heart with a little diamond in the middle of it.

It was perfect and his whole family knew he was going to do and he had it all worked out with them. So it was all planned for them to walk ahead and everything. I love Dave so much and I can't wait to marry him.

Moving Day

2008-09-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today is Moving Day. Dave, Cameron, Trent and Shayna are all coming to help me move. A big THANK YOU to each of them. It is kind of crazy because I am moving things to two places. Some things I am moving to Draper where I will be living with Linda until I get married on 11/15. The rest of the things I am moving to Orem, where I will be living after I get married. So I had to be really organized and be sure to label everything properly so it gets to the right place. After we get everything moved Dave and I are going to have our engagement pictures taken. I am so excited. We are going up in the mountains where all the leaves have changed colors. It is going to be so beautiful. I love this time of year.

I'll Miss You Brande

2008-09-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

Brande and I have been roommates since March and friends even longer. We had the perfect living situation and I have to say she is one of my best friends. She has been there for me during the good times and the hard times and I love her so much. I am sad to be moving out of the house and not seeing her everyday. But the good thing is that we work the exact same schedule at work, we take our breaks at the same time, and have our lunch at the same time. So we will have our chat sessions there. Of course we will still get together on our days off. I just wanted to let her know how much I value our friendship. I love you Brande!!!!!!!

Amy and Dave

2008-09-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken about a week ago. My hair is blonde now. :)

Things I Love About Dave

2008-09-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so anyone who reads my blog is going to have to be prepared to read a lot about Dave. He is all that is on my mind. I am so in love with him that I thought I would share with you what I love about him. This is in no particular order, just things that come to mind.

1. Personality
2. His ability to make me laugh
3. His eyes
4. His Testimony
5. The random questions he always asks me
6. The way he holds me in his arms - It's perfect - anyone who knows me knows I am very affectionate and I need this in my life.
7. His kindness - He will do anything for me
8. He is a hard worker
9. Very loyal
10. He loves his family
11. He is devoted
12. He loves me :)
13. He treats me like a Queen
14. He understands me
15. Patient
16. Talented - you should see what he can do with Granite. I will take some pictures and post them soon.
17. Sincere
18. He knows how to calm me down when I am stressed. This is a very good thing :)
19. He is a great conversationalist, we can talk for hours
20. We have a great relationship with open communication
21. He respects me
22. Drives the speed limit
23. Cares about others
24. Has opinions and isn't afraid to voice them
25. Enjoys hiking
26. Loves sharks (Just like me, they are my favorite animal)
27. Wants to have children
28. Enjoys the outdoors
29. Intelligent - has all kind of trivia floating around in his brain. I love it when he shares things with me. Then I get to learn about stuff too! :) He is a walking encyclopedia.
30. Wants to make me happy
31. Knows the importance of the Temple
32. Respects and honors his mother. Good sign of how he will treat me as a wife.
33. Accepting of my weaknesses and wants to help me make them my strengths
34. Introduced me to Gelato (not sure how to spell it. Italian ice cream. Yummy)
35. Grills a great steak
36. Is great with kids
37. He has great jokes
38. Calls me everyday and leaves me messages and always lets me know how much he loves. It gives me warm fuzzies.
39. He is seriously the best man on this planet. I love him so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since Dave is 39, I figured I would write 39 things that I love about him. I love you Dave.

Stuff, Stuff, & More Stuff

2008-09-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today I have spent a lot of time packing and packing and packing. Every time I move I get rid of more and more things, but I still feel like I have too much stuff! This is how much I have packed today. It is amazing how much time it takes. Then when I look at how much more I have to do, I feel like I haven't made much progress. I have packed 12 boxes and have 2 garbage bags full of clothes that I am giving away.

I am moving in with my friend Lynda on Saturday. She lives in Draper. I will live with her for the next 1 1/2 months until I get married. The best thing about it, is that I will be closer to Dave. Right now we are about 45 minutes away from each other. Draper is much closer to Orem, but I am not sure how long it takes to get from Orem to Draper, so I will have to get back to you on that. Anyway, I am moving most of my stuff into Dave's place and storing it there until I "officaly" move in. I am only taking a few things to Lynda's. I will pretty much live out of a few suitcases. If I need something, I can always go to Dave's to get it. I have packed up all my summer clothes and shoes, which I wasn't quite ready to do. It seems like summer went by too fast. But I love the fall and all the leaves changing and the beauty that it brings so that is a welcome change. I hope to get a few more good hikes in before the snow comes. I will have to be sure to take my camera so I can share the beauty of Fall in Utah with you.

I missed my flight

2008-09-23T04:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was supposed to leave Sacramento and fly back to Salt Lake City on the 4:25 p.m. Delta flight. Nathan and I were on the same flight and the last of all the siblings to leave. Amy left work a little early and picked us up to take us downtown to meet George at his office. George was then going to take us to the airport. We arrived downtown at George's office and as Nathan was taking the luggage out of the trunk I realized I forgot my purse! So I had no ID on me and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to fly. By this time it was 3:10 p.m. I was about 30-40 min away from George's house, if traffic was good, and another 35-45 min from the airport, assuming no traffic. I sent Nathan and George on their way to the airport so at least Nathan would make his flight. Amy and I started the race back to her house to see if we could by some miracle still make the flight. I got on the phone with Delta. Thankfully I had the number memorized, because they are one of our cobrand partners at work and I give their reservation number out all day. Anyway I called and found out there were no later flights Monday evening and the next flight was at 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. By this time Amy and I were stuck in traffic heading back to her house and we new there was no way I was going to make the flight. So I went ahead and paid the $100 fee to change my flight to Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m

So here it is Tuesday morning. I set my alarm for 4:00 a.m. and I woke up on my own at 3:35 a.m. It is because of my nerves and wanting to be on time. I got ready and had some extra time to write on my blog. I have to leave at 4:30 to be at the airport around 5:00 a.m. My flight arrives in Salt Lake close to 9:00 and Rebekah is going to pick me up and then take me straight to work. Then I get to work a ten hour shift today. Lucky me. I guess Diet Coke is going to be my best friend today. When I get home Dave is going to come to help me pack. I am moving this Saturday and I need to be all packed. I don't get off work until 9:00 p.m. and we need to get an idea of how much stuff we have to determine how many cars we will need to move me or if we are just going to use a truck ect. So it is going to be a long day.

The Love of My Life

2008-09-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have finally met the true love of my life. His name is Dave and I am so in love with him. It is hard to describe the type of love I have for him. I just have never felt this way towards anyone. We clicked right away and I knew I was going to marry him. Yes, I am getting married. The date we are getting married is November 15, 2008. It isn't that far away and I have all the wedding prep to do so I will be very busy. I will still find the time to blog. I have waited so long for the perfect man to come into my life and here he is. I will be posting a picture of him later so be sure to check back.

My little angles

2008-09-22T12:41:00.001-07:00

My little angels
Sarah, Kate, Juliette, Nya, Katya, and Cali

Kate and Juliette

Kate, Sarah, Juliette, and Nya

The little angels arriving at the Temple

Goofy Picture with Uncle Nathan

Walking around the Temple grounds while Nathan and I babysat. Kate was taking care of Juliette. Nya was taking care of Katya. Nathan and I didn't have to do much.

Me with all 6 of the cuties. Cali, Sarah, Kate, Katya, Juliette, and Nya. I wish that Emma, Anna, and Lily could have been there.

Brothers & Sisters

2008-09-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

George and Amy

Nathan and Amy

Mom & Gideon

Amy & Mom

Andrea and Jason

Amy

Andrea and Amy

Matt, Rebekah, and Nya

George and Amy

Staci, Jethro, Cali, and Katya

Gideon and Amy

It was so nice to have all of my brothers and siters there. It was also great to see my sister in law Amy, and my brother in law's Matt and Jason. I am so excited to have Becky in our family.

Gideon & Becky's Wedding

2008-09-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

I flew up to Sacramento for Gideon's wedding. I left early Friday morning. The coolest thing was that Nathan and I booked the same flight without even knowing it. So we got to be on the same flight. His seat was directly behind mine. Even if we sat next to each other it would not have mattered much because I slept the entire flight. I was so tired. (more about that later) Anyway, Gideon got married in the Sacramento Temple.

Long Time No Post

2008-09-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Oh My Gosh, I can't believe it has been since December since I have posted anything. I have had so many people mention to me that they miss my posts. I have actually really missed blogging. I love to read blogs, and read my favorites often. I am ready to re-enter the blogging world with my own blog. So why haven't I been blogging? Well the main reason why I haven't posted anything is because I lost the cord to my camera that connects to my computer to upload photo's. So, I think that blogging without photo's is boring, therefore I just haven't done it. I am at George's house this weekend and I can just put my memory card in his computer and upload pictures. So I am going to do some posts. I just need to get online and find a new cord for my camera. So there is my lame excuse for not blogging.

Only 19 More Pounds To Go!

2007-12-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

I only have 19 more pounds to go until I meet my weight loss goal. I started this diet/exercise program on 12/6/06 and really wanted to lose 100 pounds in one year. I have lost 81 pounds so far and I am very proud of myself. I am going to keep going strong until I make my goal. It is always the last little bit that is so hard to shed.

25 Things I Am Thankful For

2007-11-04T13:36:00.001-08:00

1. My family: Mom, Dad, Ana, Andrea, Jason, Eli, Jonah, Emma, Anna, Lily, Jack, Rebekah, Matt, Nya, George, Amy Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Juliette, Jethro, Staci, Katya, Cali (coming Dec 1st), Gideon, and Nathan.
2. My Religion
3. The Atonement
4. My Faith
5. Living in Utah, even though I am sure most of my posts will complain about driving in the snow!
6. My Friends
7. My Jobs
8. Living with Rebekah
9. The beauty of this earth and the mountains that surround me.
10. Dr. Hendricks - helping me lose 75 pounds (still have 25 more to go)
11. All the medical professionals that have helped me over the past month.
12. The smiles on my nieces and nephews faces when they see me.
13. That I taught Katya to point to her head. She will even use both hands and smile and laugh when we all say "YEAH" She will even put her hands on her head whenever you say "where is your..." because that is what she relates the word "where" with. She will also put her hands on her head whenever she sees me because she knows she will get praise from her "auntie".
14. I am thankful for Daisy (Bekah's black lab) even though she ran in front of me when I was carrying a bunch of stuff down the stairs and made me fall down the last three stairs. Thank goodness for carpeting, a good cry, and that I didn't break any bones. Daisy is a great hiking companion and has been on a ton of hikes with me.
15. I am thankful for strong bones. I am 32 years old and have never had a broken bone. And I even hate milk and refuse to drink it. Therefore, I am also thankful for other sources of calcium- I love cheese and can't live without it.
16. I am thankful for blogging. It has been a great way for all of our family to keep in touch and updated about what is going on and I love all the pictures. Thanks Andrea for getting us all on board in the blogging world.
17. I am thankful for all my extended family - don't think I forgot about you!! Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparent's. I love you all!
18. I am thankful I made it home in one piece my first night driving in the snow. (here come the snow complaints) I am thankful I made it safely though.
19. I am thankful for medical insurance - random I know, but two weeks in the hospital can really make you think about a lot of things, and a minute didn't go by that I was thinking about how glad I was I had insurance.
20. I am thankful I finally got my apartment rented out and sold some of my things. It will be a bummer when I am able to be on my own again and have to buy a lot of things, but I had to downsize major!
21. I am thankful for Nya and the joy she brings into my life each day I see her. I'm not playing favorites with Nya and Katya, they are just who I am around most often now. Kind of like how I used to always post about Sarah and Kate when I lived with them. Anyway, just a cute Nya story. So when I fell down the stairs I thought for sure Nya would be concerned about me, ,but she wasn't. She was more concerned about the fact that I had locked Daisy in her crate. All morning long I was carrying things down the stairs to put in my room. Daisy kept dancing around my feet and I knew something was going to happen. Of course before long Daisy tripped me and down I went. She just gets so excited when I am around because she thinks I am going to take her hiking. Well, I had Daisy go in her crate for safety reasons. First of all I didn't want to get tripped again, and second I didn't want Daisy to get hurt by me stepping or falling on her. It is hard to see when you are carrying boxes. Anyway, Nya was so upset with me that I put Daisy in the crate. She said "Auntie, let Daisy out of her crate right now", then she continued to yell at me in her little two year old voice "Daisy is my dog and I love her and she is not in trouble! I want you to move back to your apartment" I tried not to laugh because it was so funny, but I explained to Nya the reason why I put Daisy in the crate. She didn't care what my reasoning was, she just wanted me to let Daisy out. Then I showed Nya my knee and the rug burn I had on it, and it didn't even phase Nya. She wanted her dog FREE!!!
22. I am thankful for this day and age that I live in. Yes, I love my cell phone and the Internet, and I don't know how we ever survived without them.
23. I am thankful each night I make it to midnight at work. It is hard working that late sometimes when the phone calls slow down and you are tired.
24. I am thankful for peanut M&M's. Not on my diet of course, but the best choice if I am going to choose a type of candy and sometimes my sweat tooth gets the best of me.
25. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to reflect of these things I am thankful for. It really brings a spirit of gratitude at a very difficult time in my life. I realize there are many other "small" day to day things I am thankful for. Sometimes we just need to take a break from our lives and take the time to stop, breathe, and thank our Heavenly Father for all he has given to us.

Leaves Change Color in the Fall...

2007-10-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

This year, so does my hair color. I have been blond for such a long time and decided it was time to go back to my natural color. I didn't want to spend the money to have a professional hairstylist do it, and Staci has been coloring her own hair for years. So I asked her to do mine. We went and picked out a color that we thought was closest to my original color. I think we did pretty good. I love it and think she did a great job. I know we will probably have to do it a few more times just as my hair grows out to get rid of all the blond.

I'm Still Around....

2007-10-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

I realized that it has been just over two months since my last blog post. So I am still around. I have had a lot going on the past two months including a two week stay in the hospital (the reason of which I would like to keep private). I gained 12 pounds while in the hospital. It is so hard to lose weight and yet so easy to put it back on. Anyway, I hope to do better about my blogging and my diet so I can reach my goal of losing 100 pounds. I started my diet on 12/6/06 so my goal is to reach the 100 pound mark by 12/6/07. I have about 30 more pounds to go now, so wish me luck!!!!

It snowed here yesterday and I had my first experience driving in the snow. I hated every minute of it. Everyone told me to just go slow, which I did. I drove about 35-40 m.p.h. on the freeway with my hazard lights flashing and everyone blazing past me. Even got a few people honking, but oh well I wanted to make it home alive and not wreck my car or anyone else's for that matter. It was after midnight (that is when I get off work) and I was surprised at how much traffic there was. Probably because I am usually the one going 70 m.p.h. and I usually stick with the same few cars. So, since people were actually passing me I think I was more aware. Anyway, I made it home safe and sound and was so thankful I made it home safe. The entire time I was driving I wondered "Now, why did I decide to move to Utah?" Anyway, I know I will do better once I get used to it.

Joys of getting a 2 yr old to pose

2007-08-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

It is always a challenge to get kids to give the perfect smile in a picture. I had to bribe Nya today to even sit down and take a picture with me. She gave it a good effort. At first we couldn't get her to smile.
Then she smiled too hard and her eyes were all squinted! She sure has saying "cheese" down.
Finally, a very cute natural smile. I love being with Nya and I really love it when she looks at me with her big blue eye's and says "I love you Auntie"

It's a GIRL!!!

2007-08-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to welcome my newest niece. Congrats to George and Amy! Her name is Juliette and she was born this morning at 12:06. She was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 inches long. Check out George and Amy's blog for adorable pics!

http://4keepingupwiththejoneses.blogspot.com/

Has it really been a month?

2007-08-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been an entire month since I made a post on my blog. I have been really busy and just finished a long work day. So I am going to have to keep this short... I worked both my jobs today so I have been gone from 5:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow for work and why I am sitting here typing away is crazy, but no surprise to anyone who knows me. I seem to always burn the candle at both ends. And yet I wonder why I come down with migraine's. Anyway, Rebekah, Nya, and I went hiking up Little Cottonwood Canyon last night. We had a great time and Nya just loved every minute of it.
Nya ran most of the way and after a while she got tired so Rebekah and I switched off carrying her on our back. It didn't take Nya long to get her energy back and she was off running again.

This bridge overlooks the river. This is the cutest little pose that Nya did. She is so funny and likes to "goof around" when having her picture taken. She thought she was being funny here but really it turned out to be one of the cutest pictures of her. Notice has she has her little legs crossed at her feet. So dainty!
This is a picture of the river from standing on the bridge. It is beautiful.

I love living so close to the mountains and I love being able to enjoy all the beauty that they have to offer. It is even better when I get to share it with someone. So often I go hiking by myself and see so many beautiful places that I always wish someone was with me to enjoy it. I am glad Rebekah and Nya got to come along on this hike with me.

Weight Loss - Update/ Sacramento Visit

2007-07-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

On July 1st I was in Sacramento. It was great to see all my family that lives there.
It's always fun trying to get the girls to cooperate for a picture. I made a deal with them. I told them that if they would pose nicely for a couple of pictures then they could make as many funny faces as they wanted to. So here are the "nice poses"

Here is a picture of Kate complaining that she wants to make the funny face and can't handle smiling anymore. Sarah already had her face down and it looks like George does too. I am still just trying to smile and look good. :)

Here Sarah and Kate are both doing their funny faces. I think they look really cute.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with Amy. Next I will have to make her pose in a picture with me. Words alone can not express how much I miss Sarah and Kate. They are so cute. They both came with George to pick me up from the airport. They were in their pajama's and as cute as ever. I just love them so much. I can't believe how much Kate has grown up in the past month. I mean when I left she seemed to be getting so tall. After not seeing her for a month she looked so big to me. Even the way she would talk and everything she seemed like such a little adult. Sarah seemed a lot bigger too, although it wasn't as noticeable to me as Kate.

Here is a picture of Gideon and I. We are both laughing because Gideon is standing on his tippy toes so he looks taller. It was funny.

He was doing that because Nathan is taller than him, so he wanted to try and "show him up".

I've just got to love my brothers. Always in competition with each other. I guess it is the Jones way. We are all pretty competitive.

While I was there I also went and saw Dr. Hendricks for my weigh in appointment. I only lost about 4 pounds. I was disappointed in that since I hadn't been in for a month and I had been working out so much doing my hikes. However, I did have about a 5 day span where I had a milkshake everyday. So I am sure that is what did me in as far as my weight loss goes. I am going to go see Dr. Hendricks again in August. So, hopefully I will have better results and better self control. When I have my next appointment they are going to do my body composition. It will be interesting to see how much body fat I have lost. It will be a good comparison to see where I was at when I started this diet back in December. One thing I do know is that my BMI was a 41 when I started. It is now a 29. I have moved from "obese" to "overweight". I can't wait until I get into the "normal or average" category. I will be sure to post an update of all the stats.

Can You Handle the Cuteness?

2007-06-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!

O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!

I'll take it....

2007-06-20T22:28:00.001-07:00

I know my brother's will be proud.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

It is so HOT

2007-06-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness it has been so hot in Salt Lake. Today it got up to 100 degrees. Too hot for my liking. So of course I decided to escape to the mountains. It was still hot up in the mountains, but there was a nice breeze so that helped. I asked Jethro if he wanted to go hiking with me tonight and he said he would. I was thrilled to have some company. We took Katya along for the adventure too.
Not only was it nice to have Jethro and Katya along for the company, but I finally had someone who could take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Of course the pictures just don't do the beauty of the mountains justice, but you get the point.

Katya was really good the first 2 miles of the hike, but on the way back she started getting really fussy. I think she was tired and it was getting pretty close to her bedtime. Once we got in the car she was just as happy as could be. Jethro enjoyed the hike and I hope to get him to join me on some more of my hikes.

Killer Hike!!!!

2007-06-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! I went on such a hard hike today. It was approx 9 miles long and it was killer! I woke up at 4:45 a.m. this morning. I wasn't surprised because I have been getting up at that time everyday this week for work. I knew I would wake up early this morning and sure enough... 4:45 a.m. and I was wide awake. I wish it was that way when I really had to get up. Anyway, I tried to go to sleep and I had my alarm set for 6:00 anyway, so I just got up and decided to get started on my hike earlier. I did my normal 4 mile hike and then decided to take a trail I have been wanting to do. It's always scary going on a new trail because you never know what to expect. Man was I in for a surprise! It was so dang steep and did not let up at all until I got to the top of the mountain. It was certainly worth the hard work to get to the top. It was a beautiful view. Their were Aspen tree's all over and I can not even describe how beautiful it was. I sat at the top of the mountain for about 1/2 hr. Just me, all alone enjoying the sounds of nature. It is amazing how good you feel when you get to the top of a mountain. Yes, my legs were killing me, but I felt energized staring out at the surrounding mountains. Everything was so green and healthy and beautiful. I couldn't help but reflect on how blessed I am to be living in Utah. I love the mountains and have always found great joy being able to spend time in the mountains.

When I was going back down the mountain, I was sweating just as hard as when I went up. While I certainly wasn't as out of breath as I was on the way up. My legs were totally shaking from the strain. Going up they were killing me because it was so steep, going down I was dying because it was so steep. It was hard because there were so many rocks that were loose along with the dirt and it was slippery. Thankfully, I didn't fall or anything. When I got back to my normal trail I was grateful because I knew the layout and knew what was up ahead. I was glad I only had 2 more miles to once I got down the steep mountain. It wasn't so much the 9 miles that was so tiring. It was the extreme uphill and downhill that got me. I will probably do the hike I did today again, but it will take some getting used to. It was a great workout!

Finally - A Weight Loss Update

2007-06-14T22:09:00.001-07:00

O.K. so I know I have been really bad about updating my progress on my weight loss. I guess so many other things have been going on and I am so used to focusing on my weight everyday that I kind of forget to mention it on my blog. Well, I honestly can't remember how much I weighed when I went to my last appointment with Dr. Hendricks on May 23rd. I guess I could read through my blog and try and figure it out, but as you all know I am so "long winded" it would take me forever to read through everything. Gosh now I know how everyone feels when they read my novels. Oh well, I have always said this blog is more for me to use as an outlet than for anyone else. So am I ever going to get to the point......

YES! It is not official, because I have not weighed in at Dr. Hendricks office, but I believe I have lost another 10 pounds. I have been pretty good about staying on course with my diet. I have found a new "dangerous snack" though. It is the Costco Trail mix. While, it is good for me to have nuts for the protein and fat, it is NOT good for me to have the M&M's that are in the trail mix. So, in the beginning I used to pick them out. Now I just eat them. But, I have increased my exercise routine so much that I really think that is the key factor in my losing the weight and inches. I bought some more clothes when I moved up here, and they are now starting to fall off me. I am now officially a size 12! I can't believe it. I was a size 22 in my pants when I started this diet. I think I only have 25 more pounds to go to meet my 100 pound weight loss goal. I am going to fly to Sacramento at the end of the month for my weigh in appointment.
As far as my exercise routine goes... Thank goodness for the mountains. At my May 23rd appointment with Dr. Hendricks they really emphasized me working out 7 hours a week. I have never been good about 7 hours a week. I would usually do about 5 hours a week which consisted of walking. I would average about 20 miles a week. Well, when I decided to move to Utah the most exciting thing for me was hiking. I go hiking about 3-4 times a week. I have my favorite hike up Milcreek Canyon and it takes anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hours. It is about 4 1/2 miles long. I just love it. The time it takes me varies on one thing. If I decide to jog the last part down the mountain or not. I can usually cut about 15 min off my time depending how much I jog. What determines if I jog or not? How bad I have to go to the bathroom. T.M.I. I know, but I drink so much water that sometimes it goes through me faster than other times. So, if I am o.k. I can usually jog the last part which consists of about 20 minutes of downhill. Believe it or not, the trail is so steep it is actually easier to jog rather than try and walk down it. So, I have been getting about 8 hours of exercise a week. And let me tell you, it is killer. Oh my gosh, I always think I am going to die when I am going up the mountain. Rebekah can testify of the difficulty of this hike. (Unfortunately she still has not fully recovered from her knee injury from when we did the 8 mile hike). I would love to do the 8 mile hike each time I go, but it takes almost 3 hours and I need to be more prepared. Like, getting a hydro pack and also packing something to eat. Otherwise, I get too weak. Being on such a low calorie diet, even doing my two hours is very exhausting. I probably burn up all the calories of the two protein shakes I have just on the steep incline alone. Yesterday when I went, I finally got smart and took some trail mix. So when I got to the end of the trail I sat down by the river and ate the trail mix. It made a big difference in how I felt. So I will have to do that from now on. I am happy that I get to enjoy the beautiful mountains so often. It is great!!!!

American Express

2007-06-12T17:51:00.001-07:00

I started my new job at American Express yesterday. I absolutely love it! Yesterday was orientation and it was great to hear about all of the great benefits that the company has to offer. Today I started at 6:00 a.m. That was tough seeing as I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. and woke up about every hour until my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. My shift during the next twelve weeks of training will be from 6:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday. I wish that was always my shift, but once training is over I will be working later. I am going to try and work the evening shifts because you get paid more. Anyway, I like everyone I work with so far and our trainer is awesome. This company has a lot of great advancement opportunities and I am looking forward to that. I still need to find a second job so that I can focus on getting out of debt. I will spend more time next week looking for a second job. This week I just want to try and adjust to my early morning schedule. I am so happy here in Salt Lake. I love my job and can't wait until tomorrow when I get to go back. It feels good to be able to say that.

Church History Museum

2007-06-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I went on a date. We went out to dinner and then went to the Church History Museum. It has been several years since I have been there. On the top floor there is a children's area that is really cool. I thought that Nya would love it. So today I took Nya, Sophia (age 4) and Natalie (age 12) to the museum. They had a great time. In one area you can build a temple with wood blocks. Here is a picture of Sophia building a temple.

Nya and Sophia building a temple

Here they are coloring stained glass windows. They had a lighted board that you could put the colored picture on and it looked like stained glass.

Natalie and Nya playing dress up as Angels. Nya is holding a little stuffed sheep. She grabbed it out of the Nativity scene and didn't want to leave it.

Nya, Sophia, and Natalie dressed up as Shepard's.

This quilt was in another part of the museum. I really like it because it is so colorful. Notice how Sophia is sticking out her tongue. I know it is shocking to see me wearing a sweater in the middle of June, but it is freezing here right now. On Tuesday it was in the upper 80's and only cooled down to low 70's at night. Then on WED we got major thunderstorms and the high was only in the 50's. It was 52 degree's when we went to the museum so I had to borrow a sweater from Bekah. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 80's again. Random.

I love stained glass. This is so pretty. Too bad the girls weren't looking at the camera.

I got a job

2007-06-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was hired by American Express. I start Monday. I will be making about 1/2 of what I was making in California so I will be getting a second job. But I am glad I have this job. It has a lot of potential for growth, which for me will be no problem. I will start out as a customer service rep, but as I told them in the interview "Don't plan on me staying in that position for long". I fully plan on moving on up quickly. The lady interviewing me said "I would expect nothing less from you. From your past experience I know you will go far in this company" I have always advanced in my jobs so I don't mind starting out on the bottom. The main thing is getting your foot in the door. This is what I wore for the interview. I had Bekah take this picture after I finished my interview and got hired.I got a lot of compliments from people who were there on my outfit. The lady interviewing me said that I looked great. I figured I had the job at that point :)

I have training for 12 weeks. It will be M-F from 6 a.m. -2:30 p.m. I wish that were going to always be my shift. Once training is over than I am required to work Monday's and Saturday's. It is a full time position and I can choose the hours I want to work as long as I start after 10:00 a.m. I also have to option to work 4 - 10hr shifts. So I think I will work Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday from like 1:30- midnight. I am going to work the late shift because I get a 10% increase in pay if 50% of my shift is after 5:00 p.m. So I am going to do that. Then I will have Sunday, Wed, and Thursday's off. I hope to get another job that is like 8-12 M-F something like that. We'll see. The good thing about American Express is that there is plenty of opportunity to work overtime and even double time shifts. I am already used to working 60 hrs a week so I will always volunteer to pick up extra shifts. The nice thing is that I will be getting paid overtime. At Judi's I was on salary so it really sucked that I would work 60 hours and only get paid for 40. Another awesome thing about American Express is they have a gym in the building that is open 24/7 so I will be able to work out everyday. It is awesome. I am just thrilled to be working for them. When I was in Sacramento I said I wanted to get hired on with American Express because I knew they had offices in SLC. They also are on the Forbes Top 100 companies to work for, they have great benefits and everything. I know I will be happy there and I know that it will be a great job for me.

I also got these great pictures of Nya in her dress up ballet clothes. Too cute.

8 Mile Hike

2007-06-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday Rebekah and I went on a hike. It was so awesome. I would have taken my camera, but that is one extra thing to carry and I didn't want to deal with it. Maybe I will take it next time and take some pictures of the great views we saw. Anyway, I arrived at Rebekah's house a little after 7:00 a.m. On Friday I went on a 4 mile hike. It was pretty easy except for the first 1/2 mile which was very steep and the last 1/2 mile that was very steep. Rebekah wants to take Nya hiking in the jogging stroller and so I said I would scout out some possible trails. I thought this trail would be a pretty good one. There are a few area's that are quite narrow, but I figured Rebekah could go on the hike with me and check it out for herself. So we arranged with Matt to watch Nya and we went hiking Saturday morning. We were on the hike and there was a trail that we could take that was an extra 4 miles round trip. We both felt pretty good and weren't too tired so we decided to go for it. Oh my gosh it was killer. It was so steep, but we were so glad we did it.

The trail we went on was up Millcreek Canyon. As kids our parents took us hiking there quite a bit. One memorable experience we all remember is when my mom was 9 months pregnant with Gideon. She was overdue and wanted the baby out!! Any of you that have been pregnant can relate. Anyway, as usual we all went in single file up the mountain with my Mom and Dad in the back. When we got to the top we would turn around and all of us kids would race down the mountain. We always wanted to see who could arrive at the car first. This time was no different. I can't remember who got to the car first (probably me Ha, Ha)

Anyway, as Rebekah and I were almost to the end of our hike we were jogging down the steepest part of the mountain. Rebekah tripped on a rock and tried to catch herself from falling. While she didn't fall flat on her face, she did still get hurt. She twisted her knee. She was unable to stand and put any pressure on it. I told her I would run and get the car and then come back for her. I ran all the way to the car. It took me about 15 minutes to get back to her. She tried walking and using me to lean on but it was too hard. So I had her jump on my back and I carried her down the mountain. We were totally laughing at how funny we must have looked. We got home and Rebekah suggested that I get Nya's jogging stroller and take Rebekah up to the house that way. So that is what I did. I insisted that Rebekah let me take a picture of her in the stroller so I could post it on my blog. She was a good sport but told me to hurry so that none of her neighbors would see her.

By Saturday afternoon she was still in a lot of pain so she decided that she better go into urgent care. I took her in and thankfully we didn't have to wait long at all. They took an x-ray and the Doctor came in and examined her knee. Thankfully, it was only a sprain and the Doctor said to rest for 24-48 hours and she should start to feel better. Phew, thankfully it was nothing too major!!!

Nya Stretching

2007-05-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is a video (about 4 minutes) of Nya doing her exercises and stretching. Stay tuned to the end with special cameo by Katya. Cutest! Thanks to Jethro for hookin' a sister up with the video.

Nya

2007-05-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

I just love Nya to death. She is such a cutie, but she will not give me the time of day. She is 2 1/2 years old, such a fun age. She likes to cling onto Rebekah, which drives Rebekah crazy. I am sure she will warm up to me eventually, but since I am impatient it seems like it is taking an eternity. I miss Sarah and Kate so much, so the sooner Nya will pay attention to me the better :)

I did however get this "lucky" picture of us together.

Of course she loves her Uncle Jethro, I mean what kid doesn't love Uncle Jethro

She likes to tease him

Nya has changed so much since I saw her last about 2 months ago. She is so talkative and intelligent. She is very particular about the way things are around the house. She doesn't like her room to be a mess or anything to be on the floor. She has to have a napkin when she eats and has to have her cup filled all the way to the top. If you don't feel it to the top she won't drink out of it. She also is very independent and likes to do everything herself. Except go to the potty. She always wants her Mommy to take her. It is tiring for Rebekah, but better than her having an accident. Nya also loves to run. We have gone on several walks around the block and she runs, runs, runs. She also loves to jump off of things. Here is a picture of her climbing on a rock and getting ready to "Jump"

She also loves to walk Daisy. It is funny because Nya doesn't understand that if she just pulls back on the leash that Daisy will stop. It is a hoot to watch Nya walk Daisy because she just runs and lets Daisy pull her. It is really funny.
I know as Nya gets used to me she will warm up and then will come the big challenge of having her spend the night. :) I know Rebekah is excited about that. I don't think I will become Nya's favorite "auntie" because I have stiff competition from Staci. In fact Rebekah said that Staci is about the only one that Nya doesn't give a hard time to. But that is o.k. because I love Staci to death and she is awesome. Katya and Staci get home from Oklahoma today and I can not wait to my hands on my little Katya!!!! That is when I am really going to be in 7th Heaven.

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

Today I went over to Rebekah and Matt's house for a Barbeque. It was really good, we had chicken, steak, and ribs. Matt is a great cook and loves to entertain.

Getting everything ready. Jethro, Matt, and Autumn (Matt's sister)

Yummy salad the Autumn made, it was sooooooooo good!

Abigail (Amber's daughter) with a great smile.

Cute Demetrius (Not sure how to spell his name. I will have to check with Autumn)

David (Amber's son) He's a little cutie too, but he wasn't feeling too good.

Da-Da (Autumn's daughter) Yes, another beautiful child... I am loving it....

After dinner Jethro and I decided to take all the kids on a walk. Amber's two sons Thomas (check out the boots. I love it) and Matthew are so cute. Also "little James" (Autumns oldest) who isn't so little standing in the back. He is 13 or 14 and 6'3. He helped us out with all the little angels.

Of course we couldn't go on a walk with out Daisy!

All the kids took turns walking her. I only got a picture of Nya with her though.

One thing Utah has a lot of is "ANTS". I hate ants. Nya is fascinated with them and always picks them up. She will hold them between her two fingers and come and show Rebekah. It is really funny. Here are some ants that we saw on our walk. It looks like a bunch of dirt, but it is a ton of ants.

Nya really wanted to hold hands with Thomas while they were walking. It was really cute. I tried to get a picture of them from the back, but Thomas wouldn't hold Nya's hand for too long.

We made a quick stop at the church so the kids could tackle uncle Jethro on the grass. It was so cute!

It was weird not to have Scott and Christina and all their kids there. They were in Boise. I am excited for them to get back in town. It was also weird not to have Staci and Katya there. I can't wait for them to get back from Oklahoma. I can't wait to get my hands on Katya. Yeah!!!!

Going Away Party (Family)

2007-05-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I had a going away party. We had it at George and Amy's house. Sandra, Todd, Tyler (Amy's nephew) and Lena all came and so did Nathan. Gideon had school so he wasn't able to make it. Once again I didn't even get a picture with him. Heather and Ciana also came. I made chicken enchilada's for dinner.

I am going to miss Sandra, Todd, and Lena. They are such great people and I really love them.

I will miss everyone so much.

I am going to miss my brothers!

I am going to miss Amy too! We always had so much fun together. I've got to convince them to move to Utah!! Notice how Sarah is peeking in between our legs. So cute!

Of course I am going to miss Kate - Don't you want to just reach in and give her a big hug!! She is so dang cute!

I am going to miss my little ballerina Sarah too.

I had the girls spend the night for one final time on Wednesday. We went to go and pick up Rebekah and Nya from the airport on Thursday morning. For breakfast I took the girls to Jamba Juice.

Judi's Last Day cont

2007-05-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of me on my last day at Judi's. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures with everyone. Sorry you have to see me wearing the same thing in all the pictures :)

Heather the office manager and my best friend. I would not have survived without her. She is the best!

I loved working with Kim. She was such a cool person and so flexible with her schedule. She saved the day many times.

Terrence always kept me laughing.

Albino, Antonia, and Patti. Patti has been the dry cleaner at Judi's for almost 10 years. She starts each day at 4:30 a.m. I don't know how she does it. She is one of the hardest working people I know.

Alterations Department. These ladies are amazing. They can do anything. Luba, Olga, Natalya and Linda.

Eric first started in Carmichael as a presser, then moved to counter. Now he is back pressing in Carmichael.Shirt Laundry Department. A great group of hard working people. Maria, Maria, and Tai.

Hiep - Oh how I love Hiep. She was here when I worked for Judi's over 10 years ago. She is one of the nicest ladies. She is so dedicated and hard working. I will miss her so much.

Prudencia

Here are some pictures of some of my counter staff. Here is Chelle who has been with the company for over 3 years. She certainly did hold down the fort at the Fair Oaks store.

Trent a.k.a my favorite employee as he liked to refer to himself. He really was a great employee, always willing to stay late or come in early. He never called in sick and in the year and a half he worked for me only asked for one day off of work! What a champ!

Julia, who works in the Carmichael store has the best smile ever!

Tye, another one of our Route drivers.

Gideon is working for Judi's now and I can't believe I didn't get a picture with him :(

Salt Lake City

2007-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I made it!! It feels so good to be in SLC. I love the mountains and I feel like I am "Home". I went and looked at my apartment and I love it. I will get the truck unloaded tomorrow morning.

Bitter Sweet

2007-05-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day of work. I can not believe that I am on my way to Utah tomorrow. I am very excited to move to Utah and I can't wait to see what the future brings. I already have some good leads on jobs for the summer. I really will be happy when I get some interviews to teach for the upcoming school year. After all that is why I am moving to Utah.

The past two years have been challenging. I remember my first day of work and going around to the stores and meeting all the employee's. There were some real losers working here at the time and I knew that my first task would be "clean-up" It took me about a year of lots of hard work, long hours, and firing and hiring to clean this place up. I am so happy that we have such a great class of employee's working for us now. I put in way too many 60+ hours a week shifts, but I think it was all worth it. I have learned a great deal from this job and I can leave holding my head held high. I am sad to leave all of the friends I have made at work. I sure do work with some great people. Monday night they had a party for me. It was really nice. Not everyone was able to make it, but I enjoyed my time with those that were there. I took my camera with me so I could take pictures and then forgot about it. Here are some pictures I took yesterday. I will take more as I go around to all the stores to say goodbye and post them later.

Me working in the Granite Bay Store. Ready with a smile for the customer that walks in.

Getting customers clothes off the rack. As you can see there really wasn't a customer, but it was a fun pose :)

Owner, Ben Combs. What a great man. He first hired me when I was 20 years old back in 1996. I worked for him for about 1 1/2yrs. He has also hired all four of my brothers. Gideon worked for him for 3 years before he went on his mission. Now Gideon is working at Judi's again, but just for the summer. When I originally left Judi's he tried everything he could to get me to stay. 10 years later he succeeded in getting me to come back and work for him. Perhaps in another 10 years I'll be back again. Who knows...

Two of our great Route drivers. Jen and Sergio. Jen has been with the company longer than any other employee. She knows it all. Sergio has a lot of family in Salt Lake and I told him he better come visit me when he is there :)

Good Old Ali. Not that he is "old" but he is such a kind man. He is so devoted to his job and always has the best interest of the company in mind. He is the one that gets all of the clothes to all the stores. He is always on the go and being pulled in a million different directions by about 40 different employee's. Everyone thinks that their request is most urgent, so he really has to multi-task and he does a great job. I will really miss him.

I am going to post this for now. I will try and post more tonight after I get more pictures.

ARL

2007-05-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

I am very excited because I found out yesterday that I got accepted to the Alternative Routes to Licensure (ARL) program in Utah. I was surprised that found out so quickly. It will be great because now when I meet with principals I can let them know that I have been accepted into the program. That way they know that I am serious about getting my licence. The good thing is that I have quite a few EEC (early childhood education credits) from when I was at BYU. That was my original major, so I am sure that helped expedite my acceptance. So I am giving myself a pat on the shoulder. When I arrive in Salt Lake I have to immediately go and get my fingerprints taken and get a background check. The ARL program only gives me two weeks to do this from the date of the letter. The letter was dated 5/15 so it will be down to the wire.

Wish me luck this next week as I prepare to make the move to Salt Lake. I get the truck on Thursday, we are going to load it up Thursday night, and I will leave Friday morning. Rebekah and Nya are flying in on Thursday morning. Rebekah is going to drive my car up to Salt Lake I will drive the Uhaul. I am so excited to get to Salt Lake. I can't wait to go hiking........

Insomnia ......... Tooth Drama

2007-05-19T21:32:00.001-07:00

I have really been suffering with a bad case of insomnia lately. I know it is because of everything I am going through right now. While I feel calm and excited about the decision I made to move to Utah, I think deep down inside I am feeling a great deal of stress and anxiety. The fact that I made this decision so quickly and suddenly hasn't helped my stress level. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. But that is just the way I work. I have always done things this way and I work well under pressure, but that doesn't mean I don't suffer some along the way.

So as far as my insomnia goes, it is terrible. First of all I couldn't sleep because I was so stressed out about work. I wouldn't be able to get to sleep until 2:00 a.m. on a regular basis. My alarm goes off at 5:30, sometimes earlier depending where I am working. When you are tired, you don't handle stress as well and that sets off another series of events. Well, when things got really bad was a few weeks ago when I started getting this really bad tooth ache. It actually started when I was down in San Diego on 3/28. It would come and ago, but it was on a tooth that I already had a root canal on. Once you have a root canal the tooth is basically dead. They remove the nerve and there is no longer a way for the tooth to survive. Well, this tooth drama with tooth #3, my molar on the upper right, has been going on for years. I mean years, at least 8 years. It all started with a cavity. I had it filled, then I was still having problems so I got an onlay put on. A few years went by, still having problems and they put a crown on. Still years went by, and it still bothered me, so they had to do a root canal and another crown. Time goes on, it starts bothering me. The worst time was when I was in Palm Desert visiting Rebekah. I think I had Sarah or Kate with me, I can't remember which one. Anyway, Rebekah had a doctor's appointment in LA and on the drive out I was dying. I was in so much pain from this stupid tooth!!! Having worked in the dental field for seven years, I was fortunate to have never experienced major tooth pain. Sure I had times where it would bother me, but then I would just hop in the dental chair, the dentist would check it out, do something... and I was good to go. I would always get so impatient when people would call and complain about a toothache. I just didn't ever understand how it could be so bad. People would call all the time and say they just wanted the tooth out of their mouth. I could never understand until that time on the way to LA. I seriously wanted to take a pair of pliers and rip that tooth out of my mouth. Rebekah can confirm that! Anyway, Rebekah used to work for a dentist by the name of Dr. Kim in Glendale. She called him and as a special favor he agreed to meet us at the office that afternoon. I had gone 24 hours without sleep because of the pain I was in. He numbed the area for me to give me some relief and took an x-ray. Once he developed the x-ray he said "No way I am touching this tooth" You have got something major going on and you need to go see a specialist. He gave me some anti-biotics and painkillers and off I went. Within a few days I was feeling much better. Did I make an appointment to see my dentist in Sacramento. No, because I felt better. Well a few months later the same pain came back. So I broke down and went to the dentist and he said the same thing "No way am I touching this tooth. You need to go see an endodontist". So I went and saw an endodontist and it turned out that instead of the three canals that showed up on the x-ray, I had a hidden fourth canal. That was what was causing me so much pain. Additionally, because the infection had been present for so long (and I did nothing about it) I had a lot of bone loss. And there was some random black mass the the endodontist had no idea what it was. Great!!! :( :( :( So I had the retreat of the root canal and was told all should be fine from now on. I went back to my dentist to get yet another post put in my tooth. Thankfully, he was able to save the crown that I had, which meant that saved me $850. Even though I had to pay $1000 to the endodontist. My dental insurance sucks, it only covers 20%. Anyway, after all that about 2 months had passed. Then the same freakin pain came back. I called the endodontisit and he said that sometimes that can happen, lucky me. I had such an infection that sometimes it flares back up. He called in some antibiotics for me. I took them and all was well again. Until my recent trip to San Diego. The pain came back, along with the sleepless nights. I just couldn't understand why I had all this pain. After about a week I broke down and called my dentist, who said "No way am I touching that tooth. Call the endodontist" I did and he said to come in right away. Well, I went in, they took x-rays and guess what? That black mass was still there. They told me I needed surgery. Great, small problem Dr. I am moving in two weeks!!! Well, they worked their magic, rescheduled a few patients and fit me in on Tuesday. To the tune of $1200!!!! Anyway, they had to do an apioectomy. That is where they cut off the tips of 3 of my canals. They also removed the tissue that was infected, which the endondist said was "a massive infection". He is surprised that it didn't heal and he is going to send it in for a biopsy. Anyway, the procedure was about 2 1/2 hours and included 8 stitches. The night before my surgery I was really stressed out about it. Having been in the dental field I know what this consisted of and I knew it was going to suck and it was going to hurt like heck!!! That night I couldn't fall asleep to save my life. I finally fell asleep around 3:00 a.m. and my alarm went off at 5:00. I worked from 6:30-1:00 and my appointment was at 1:30. When I was on my way home I was talking to Amy and told her I would stop by Sarah's school and pick her up. I was driving right by. Amy asked if I was o.k. to do that and I said "Sure, I am numb". So I went and picked up Sarah and told her that we had to go to Jack in the Box to get a milkshake for me. Sarah said "But Auntie, that is not on your diet. You can't go off course". I had to laugh. She is such a little cutie! I told her it was "Doctor's Orders" Since I had the surgery he said I should have a milkshake because it is cold and soft and will help in slowing down the bleeding. So I went and got myself, Sarah, Kate, and Amy shakes. It was yummy and even though I know it was off my diet, it felt dang good to eat it. I dropped Sarah off at home and came home and fell asleep on the couch. I woke up a few hours later. I felt like really beat up and out of it. I had taken some vicoden and I don't like to take it. Usually, it makes me hyper, which is why I don't like to take it, but I think everything I had gone through and the lack of sleep really was starting to affect me. I took a Benedryl that night because that always makes me sleep. When I woke up the next morning I felt really groggy. My mouth hurt, my head hurt, I couldn't seem to think straight. It just really sucked. I had to work 11-C that day. Don't ask me why I didn't take the day off. Anyway, I went to work a total Zombie. I was so out of it. Thankfully, I was in the slowest store and was able to sit down most of the day. I was pretty much zoning out. That night I went to bed around 10 or 11 only to be awoken by my cell phone at 1:00 a.m. I looked at the number and it was an 800#. I was thinking "I am not answering that. Who knows who is calling and I swear if it is a telemarketer I am going to be livid" I waited to see if they left a message. They did. I listened and it ADT, the alarm company from work, letting me know that they were receiving a "low battery" signal. Good grief, did they really have to call me at 1:00 a.m. Well, since I have been suffering from Insomnia, once I am awake I can not go back to sleep. I tried really hard, but I couldn't. Finally at 2:00 I got up and started packing. I got a lot done. By 5:00 a.m. I was feeling sick because I was so tired. I laid back down and my alarm went off at 5:30. I snoozed until 5:45 and then off to work again. They cycle has repeated itself and I am going crazy!! Last night I took a benedryl again because I had to take the CSET (like the MSAT). I had to be at the testing center by 7:30 a.m. I knew I had to get sleep last night. Thankfully, I did sleep through the night. I was so tired this morning and suffering from the effects of the drowsy feeling I always feel the next morning after taking Bendryl. But I knew, if I didn't take it, I wouldn't sleep. We were allowed 5 hours to take the test. I finished in 2 1/2hrs. I have always been a super fast test taker. You either know it, or you don't. I don't think I did too well. I didn't even study for it. Too much has been going on. I tried to withdraw a few weeks ago but I was 3 minutes too late. The test is $250 and I didn't want to not take it. At least I tried. Oh well, I am not going to stress over it. It was a test that I needed to be accepted to the credential program in California, but I don't think it would do any good for me in Utah. Who knows, anyway what is done is done!

Happy Auntie's Day

2007-05-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

and Happy Mother's Day too! I didn't get a chance to make a post yesterday, but I do want to tell my Mom how much I love her! She is such a wonderful woman and I love her so much. She is so patient and listens to me go on and on and on and on about whatever is on my mind. You think I have a tendency to ramble in my blogs, you should hear me on the phone :) Anyway, I really admire my Mother. She not only raised seven children, but somehow found the time to always make bread, pancakes, cookies, cake, and everything else from scratch. One thing that I am most thankful for from my Mother is that she always had us eat dinner as a family. It was hard at times, especially when all we did was complain about what she made. But it was nice to sit down as a family every night and discuss our days. I know as a teenager I barely would sit through an entire dinner. I remember all of us kids raiding the table, eating our food as fast as we could and off we would go. My Mom would just sit at the table slowly enjoying her meal. As I look back on that I feel bad that so often we couldn't even find the time to say "Thanks Mom". Well here is my time to say "Thanks". Thanks for just being you! I love you so much and I miss you terribly. I have always said "If my Mom doesn't make it to the Celestial Kingdom, then none of us will" That is how wonderful my Mom is. In Relief Society we had a special panel of woman. Some were mother/daughter and others were just asked to share some stories about their Mom's. I was asked to participate in the panel. One thing I focused on was my Mom's ability to serve others. Not only serve others, but to do so silently. Every Sunday I call my Mom on the way home from church. She often will answer her cell phone and say "I can't talk, I am visiting my little old ladies". I am always amazed at how faithful she is to go and visit them every Sunday. One lady she visit teaches and the other lady is not a member and my Mom has just befriended her. I know these ladies look forward to every Sunday when my Mom is going to come and visit. I love you MOM!

Yesterday I went over to George and Amy's after church to celebrate Mother's Day with them.

I really wanted to get a nice picture of me and the girls, but I may have to try again next Sunday. I am my own worse critic.

Kate was being goofy in this picture with this foamy sticker on her head. I love her smile in this picture. It is so typical Kate, full of mischief in her eyes.

Here is a really nice family picture of George, Amy, Sarah, Kate and new baby. Amy looks so dang cute pregnant!

George made a wonderful dinner for all of us. He made egg rolls, bread, kung po chicken, and a very yummy cake for desert.

Hopefully, he will post some pictures of the food he made. He also made a very good breakfast for Amy. He is such a good cook!! He made everything from scratch! Go George!