Nya Stretching

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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.