Who knows where thoughts come from?

May 2011

2011-05-23T22:03:00.008-07:00

Millions of peaches... we had a great crop this year! I picked and picked until I wanted to cut my head off from the allergies. So worth it though!

Since its starting to get hot Bryce, Anna, Porter and Avery (and Sadie) came over to play in Porters new birthday sprinklers.

Avery is so cute... she tried really hard to jump like Porter!
Justin made Porter a water slide. We found out it launches you pretty far at the end. Luckily Porter liked it. He also likes it when you push him down the slide... but I wouldn't know cuz I have never pushed him down the slide, Bryce. :)
Sadie was loving the water!
Afterwards we ordered Papa Johns (with cinnamon peaches and cream for dessert!) and watched Despicable Me. I love that movie! Fun night.

February 2011

2011-05-23T21:48:00.008-07:00

My brother Bk and nephew Noah came to visit for a short trip. It was such a nice day that we picked up Delly from pre-school and decided to all go to the zoo. When we got Delly we told her that we were taking her somewhere but it was a surprise (she'd never been before) so we weren't going to tell her where. We went to the Del Taco drive through to grab some quick lunch and me and my Mom were talking about whether to get drinks there or at the zoo and from the back seat Delly says "Did you just say zoo?!" Whoops, we kept the secret for about 5 minutes. She didn't want us to feel bad that we ruined it though so she said "It's OK! I'm still surprised right now!!". Maybe you had to be there but it was pretty cute. Here are some pictures from the day-

January 2011

2011-05-23T21:31:00.007-07:00

TEN years down... eternity to go.

Seriously, how has it been 10 years since we got married? I can't hardly believe it. We decided to take a trip to San Diego to celebrate. We stayed in the Gaslamp quarter in downtown SD. Right across from our hotel was a restaurant called the Broken Yolk Cafe. They had the most delicious multigrain pancakes and hashbrowns! I made Justin eat there every morning. :) We also went to Old Town San Diego for yummy Mexican food and went to the new Mormon Battalion exhibit. It's fun and definitely worth going to. Our picture from there cracks me up though- check out Justin's ears!

Hiking around at Torrey Pines. We watched a couple Beluga whales play in the surf for awhile there too... so cool!
Watching the seals at seal beach. I could sit there and watch them all day. We also had fun watching the people walk out on the water break... there weren't big waves that day but every so often a huge wave would come and soak everyone and we would laugh as we watched them run. Then we decided to walk out there ourselves to see the seals close up....
and then BAM! Seconds after we took this picture we got soaked too! Karma.
Petting the dolphins at Sea World! I loved it. It was the perfect day to go there. Hardly any crowds and perfect weather.
Justin and his fish friend.
Watching the sunset at sunset cliffs (it's not just a clever name). We had a great trip, happy anniversary to us!!

December 2010

2011-05-23T19:51:00.009-07:00

Di-nee-land!

The Harris's invited me to crash their family vacation. I hadn't been forever so I was so excited to go! It is Harris family tradition to take a picture by the Indian.

The Matterhorn! I love Delly's worried face in this picture. She would get anxiety before every ride. She would ask "is it dark?", "is it scary?", "is it fast?" and we would of course lie and say "no, it's not!". Because after every ride she was so happy and loved them all! Except the Tower of Terror... or as we called it- The Tower of Fun! After we got off she said "Why do they call it the Tower of Fun anyways... it's NOT fun!". :)
Avery Belle driving me on the bumper cars... I recommend not letting Avery drive you on the bumper cars. :)
I finally talked Delly into going on a ride with me. When I first asked her she said "Ummm... I think I'll ride with an adult first." I'm not sure what she thinks of me but apparently its not a responsible adult. I'm just one of the kids! This was before our ride on Space Mountain. "No Delly, it's not fast or dark!" Whoops! Maybe she was right not to trust me...
After Space Mountain- she LOVED it! She talked the whole time but all I could hear was her screaming "it's like we're really in space!". She was so cute.
My Tower of Terror partners Gage and Drey. We went on it several times, it was one of my favorites!
I jump Disneyland & California Adventure!

The new 3D Toy Story ride was awesome!! Another favorite.
We had a great time! Thanks Harris's for letting me crash your party!

Christmas Eve-

I didn't take many pictures on Christmas. Here's me and Hanny with our gifts from our parents. She got a nice stethoscope so she doesn't have to use the crappy prison ones and I got an acetylene gas tank for my jewelry. We were so excited!

We don't have a problem... I love my family!! :)

November 2010

2011-02-02T16:03:00.018-07:00

Pictures-

We had Ashley Madsen take our pictures for our adoption profile. She is amazing! If you need pictures definitely give her a call! These were actually the first professional pictures we've had taken since our wedding almost 10 years ago, hello! We will not ever wait so long again.

Sedona-

Justin's parents offered to let us use part of their timeshare in Sedona... well ok, if we have to! We don't want it to go to waste or anything. :) I've always wanted to go to Jerome too so we took a day trip over there too.

Seriously, who doesn't need a faucet on the hood of their car?
We jump(ed) Sedona red rocks? Using self timer to get a jumping picture is not easy!
We rode our bikes to see some hieroglyphs and ruins...
the best part was when we sat on the rocks to eat our lunch. After a few minutes Justin said "these rocks are so cold". Which I thought was weird because... they weren't. After about 5 more minutes he realized he was sitting on the mouthpiece to his camelbak and it was slowly soaking into his pants! He had to ride all the way back with wet booty. I thought it was funny. :)
On the never ending hike.... after our bike ride we decided to take a quick 2 mile hike up a little creek. After about 5 or 6 miles in we realized the trail description we had was way off! It was super pretty but man we were tired!
Where we finally decided the trail ended-
After the hike we were pretty much done so we decided to drive around to see the rocks instead. Cathedral Rock-
Watching the sunset over the red rocks- beautiful!

We had a fun weekend away! I love Sedona!

October 2010

2011-02-02T15:22:00.005-07:00

JDRF Walk- Time again for the JDRF walk to cure diabetes! We walk every year for my nephew Dean. As much fun as we have at the walk we hope someday we won't have to do it anymore. Dean (and his parents) have to go through so much dealing with diabetes... that cure can't come soon enough!

The Richards Fam. Thanks to them we had the greatest shirts ever this year!
Avery and Sadie checking out all the booths. We've taught these girls right!
Mom and Dad with the boy of the day, Dean.
Walking with the Coco!

September 2010

2011-02-02T14:23:00.014-07:00

September was a great month! My parents are in Marquette, Michigan for work and I got to go spend three weeks there with them and Justin got to come for the last week. Marquette is right on Lake Superior and it is beautiful there. We had so much fun exploring da UP!

My Mom took me on a hike that overlooked the lake so I could fully appreciate it. It feels more like an ocean than a lake!

I'm on a boat! We took a cruise to look at the Pictured Rocks National Park. It was so pretty but the day we chose to go was a little windy and there were pretty good size waves once we got out on the water. Luckily neither me or my Mom get motion sick but most of the rest of the boat did. I about jumped off the back of the boat when the lady next to me asked for one of the red biohazard vomit bags... luckily she just wanted it for a souvenir I guess.

When I got there the leaves were just starting to change. It was so cool to watch them turn colors and see what a real autumn looks like!

We drove down to the south side of the Upper Peninsula to go see Lake Michigan...

I jump Lake Michigan lighthouse!

After the Pictured Rocks tour we did some hiking in the park and then drove over to one of the beaches that we had seen from the boat on our tour. It was probably the prettiest beach I've ever been to! Clear blue water, soft sand... it was too bad the day we were were there was windy and cold but at least it made for some awesome waves!

There were also some really cool rocks at this beach... so colorful and tumbled smooth and perfectly round from the waves. We both had our pockets stuffed by the time we left!
I jump twelvemile beach!
Yes, that is a bear sitting in a lawn chair eating fruit loops off its stomach... how cool is that?! I really wanted to see some bears so we went to Oswald's Bear Ranch in Newberry, Michigan.
We hiked to as many waterfalls as we could (and there are a lot of them!). This is the largest, Taquamenon Falls. It is 200 feet across and drops 50 feet.

When Justin came we took a day trip to Mackinac Bridge. This bridge is FIVE miles long and connects the upper peninsula to lower Michigan. They forced me to drive across it even though I am afraid of bridges! It wouldn't have been so bad but the outside lanes were closed so I had to drive on the metal grating in the center that has nothing but the water below! Scary!
I jump Mackinac bridge!
Taking the ferry over to Mackinac Island. It is such a cool place... there are no cars allowed on the island so the only way to get around is walking, biking or horseback!
The Mystery Spot!!! Umm... not so mysterious but we had fun anyways! :)
Showing Justin around Marquette.
Hiking around Lake Superior. It is just incredibly beautiful there.

Laughing Whitefish Falls.
One day we decided to go biking around Grand Island. It was cold in the morning and my hands were freezing... after about 15 minutes we stopped and walked down to the beach and lying right on the beach were a pair of womens bike gloves! I was so happy! It made the day much better with warm fingers.
Grand Island was beautiful. There is only one ferry to and from the island everyday. We were running late so left without bringing any food with us. We thought there might be something there where we rented our bikes but there is nothing on the island! We biked until about one and then were too starving to do anything else so we took a nap on the beach for a couple hours!

This was on our last day. There is a cool little place right by Marquette called Presque Isle. My Mom had seen deer there a couple times driving around so we decided to go hiking back in there and see if we could see any deer. We hiked for awhile being super quiet but didn't see anything. We gave up and were playing around in this hollowed out tree and not being quiet at all and this deer walked right up to us! If you look carefully you can see it in the background of this picture. We followed it back in to the woods and it led us to about 8 or 9 deer that were just laying around. It was so cool! We watched them for awhile until they all took off and while we were standing around talking about what had just happened a Mom and baby deer walked out of the woods and right up to us! It was the coolest thing ever!
The Momma and baby deer.
Well that is just a taste of our trip to Michigan. We crammed a lot in thats for sure! Me and my Mom drove all over the UP and hiked and hiked and hiked. You know it was a successful trip when the last day you are so worn out you have to crawl to make it up the steps of the apartment!

August 2010

2010-10-04T15:38:00.007-07:00

Apparently it was too hot in August to do anything but stay inside and feed Cheetos to the dogs... They would just carry them around like this forever and it cracked us up.

July 2010

2010-10-04T15:09:00.008-07:00

4th of July-

We went up to the rodeo and fireworks in Snowflake for the 4th of July this year. We had a good time hanging out with friends!

Justin and Kenady. This litte girl loved Justin! She wanted to ride with us over to the rodeo and on the way over this is the conversation she has with Justin: "I love you Justin". "You do? We don't even know each other". "Well, I'm Kenady and we love each other". She also asked him like 10 times from the backseat if he knew where he was going. It was pretty funny. She stayed by his side the whole night.

Kade, Jaymi, Dallas and Sydney

Karalee and Kinlee

The Grand Finale- I love fireworks!

Sadie's Baptism- 24 July 2010

We were able to go to Fort Thomas for Sadie's baptism. It was such a good day!

Mom, Judy and Grampa

Sadie and Avery

Me and my sisters!

June 2010

2010-07-11T15:47:00.027-07:00

June 1, 2010

Our new car- a Subaru Outback! It is a little weird not driving a truck anymore but I think I am adjusting just fine. :) They only thing I don't like is that it has heated seats and Justin thinks it is super funny in the middle of summer to switch mine to high and watch me roast until I figure it out. Other than that I love it! Now I am trying to convince Justin we need kayaks to put on top...

June 23, 2010

My Mom took me and the Richard's and Harris's all to the Circus. The Greatest Show on Earth is not just a clever name, it was pretty great! We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Me and my Mom.
The kids LOVED their super cute and ridiculously overpriced elephant mug Icees my Mom couldn't resist buying them. Delly-
Dean and Drey-
Mombee and Sadie-

June 11-15, 2010

We went to a cabin in Duck Creek (southern Utah) for our family reunion this year. It was so much fun to have everyone together! Here are a few (or a lot) of pictures from our trip in no particular order.

Last summer when we went to Utah Casey Gooch introduced us to the best donuts ever at Lamars. We convinced everyone it was worth the stop for them on the way out of town and they did not disappoint! A great start to our trip!
Gage has a future in donut modeling.

My Dad's birthday cookie. It was fun to see the look on the face of the Paradise Bakery worker when I told her I wanted it to say "Happy Birthday to our Mangy Transient Grandpa".

Sadies cute face-

and stank face- she has it perfected.

Dean and Drey headed into the ice cave-

The Harris Fam-

Avery learns what happens when she throws a snowball at Justin-
I had a great idea to bake Min and Eric a cake for their birthday since we don't usually get to spend it with them. My friend Cicily posted about a rainbow cake she made and it turned out so cute I thought I would give it a try. It started out so pretty...
Then I remembered that the kitchen hates me (the feeling is mutual) and everything went downhill from there. The oven kept turning off, then when we finally got it on right it was too hot and caused the cakes colors to run and boil over everywhere. To top it off I forgot to butter the pans. Disaster!
This is not exactly the cake I had in mind. The kids aptly named it "Rainbow Vomit Cake".
It was actually quite tasty though and we ate every last bit of it! Who wants a perfect cake anyway?
Zane learned the art and addiction of styrofoam cup drawing.
So many fun games played around the kitchen table!
Me and Mom made all the girls matching tutus. They loved them!

Sweet little Jossy.

Drey is always an entertainer.

One day we went to Bryce Canyon National Park and hiked around a little there. Beautiful!

The Richards fam-

Jos, Juli and me-

What? Mindy is packing around a rock?! ;)

Zane-
Mom and Dad-
The Beecroft fam-
I jump Bryce Canyon!
Best cousins-
This little girl loves Justin and even let him pack her all the way down the canyon and back up since she didn't have any traction in her princess slippers.

June 2, 2010

Mindy, my Mom and I took the Richards kids and Delly to the new Sea Life Aquarium. We loved it! We spent so much time in there, it was pretty cool.

Me and Sadie in one of the "bubbles" that pop up into the tanks.
Starfish petting- they are actually quite tough and pokey!
Dean and his favorite- the octopus.

May 2010

2010-07-10T18:54:00.017-07:00

May 23, 2010

Just some cute pictures from when we watched Porter and Avery for a few hours. We happened to have irrigation while they were over and Porter thought it was pretty awesome. He followed my Dad around everywhere "helping". Avery was not to be left out and insisted that she be walked around in the water too. That girl already knows what she wants!

May 24-26, 2010

We took a short road trip to Las Vegas with our friends Casey and Amy Gooch. It was so nice to get away for a bit and relax!

We loved our hotel- nice pool and spa, no casino in the lobby, huge bathtub and free food credits!

Its Vegas so its ok to eat pizza at midnight...

We played Bingo twice and it was so much fun! I even got Bingo! Unfortunately it only lasted about 30 seconds. I called it out and they stopped the whole game when the cute old lady sitting next to us leans over and says "Do you have double hardway bingo?" Excuse me what?? Fortunately someone else in the room actually did have it so I avoided total humiliation. She was so nice and patiently helped us figure out the rest of the games. There is a whole different Bingo language when you play in Vegas!

Don't worry its just root beer... I think.

Oh and its also ok to eat ice cream at 1:30 am...

I forgot to jump the Strip so- I jump Las Vegas moving walkway!

Good times, I want to go back!

May 13, 2010

Meeting Karalee's second little girl Lainee! She is adorable of course and perfect even with her "thumb toe". :)

May 28, 2010

My Mom, Hanny and I threw Joey a surprise birthday party for his 40th. With many elaborately told lies told by Hanny we actually surprised him! He had no idea. The weather was perfect and we had a great turn out of friends and family. The Richards came down from The Fort and Bk surprised us all drove all the way down from Utah! Success!

Hanny is a slave driver... me and Mom were beat down by the end of the night!
The Richards showed us a fun game they like to play with panty hose- it was pretty hilarious!

April 2010

2010-07-10T18:18:00.005-07:00

In April we were able to go to the Easter Pageant with Justin's family. It was fun to hang out and see the pageant with his family. The cousins-

Avery and Delly came with us and were so excited (as were the rest of us) when Joyce busted out her famous popcorn. YUM!

The next day we had an Easter BBQ at our house with friends and family. Good food was eaten, games played and eggs hunted.

Check out Isreal's determination- tongue out and everything!

Kavika showing off his loot-

March 2010

2010-04-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

So it's come to my attention (thanks Amy!) that we have in fact done a few things in the last 6 months. So here is what we have been up to...

Red Knolls & Box Canyon- March 5&6, 2010

Min and Eric invited us all up to Fort Thomas to celebrate Zane's birthday and go for a ride up Box Canyon. Friday night Eric cooked up some delicious pizza (which somehow I don't have any pictures of). Joslin was spending the weekend with us too so that night we decided to take her and Gage out to Red Knolls to do some exploring. On the way there we told them all the scary stories we knew about the place (which I think freaked me out more than them). Unfortunately me and Justin hadn't been there for so long and couldn't remember how to get in to any of the good caves. We had fun exploring though and did find our way to the top a couple of times. Where Gage (lovingly I'm sure) kept saying "OK Mom!" as told them over and over "Watch out for that hole!" and "Get back from the edge!". Sheesh, its a totally different experience when you are responsible for someone! The last time I was there the only one I had to worry about falling down a hole or off the edge was me. I felt pretty old. That and my aching hip didn't help either.

Spider monkey Joslin- she was fearless.

Gage must have been standing on a rock. Or I was in a hole. He really can't be that much taller than me can he?!

Box Canyon-

All the girls in Eric's Samurai (aka Benny Ninja).
Justin got the Jeep through some pretty tight spaces (causing only minor body damage).
If you were wondering, we got our awesome posing skills from our Mom.

Our delicious picnic lunch.
This family loves rocks (thanks Dad). Here are the kids trying to excavate some geodes from the rock.
I love this little girl and her "missing teeth".
Gage drove me all the way up the canyon and back in the Rhino. I was pretty impressed by his driving skills.
Box Canyon was awesome!! Thanks Richards for the adventure.

BBQ- March 13, 2010

We've been eating out on the back porch a lot since the weather has been so nice.

Take out from Buca de Beppo- March 20, 2010

Makutus Island- March 23, 2010

We planned on going to the zoo while the Richards were in town but of course it rained that day so we decided to go to Makutus Island instead. Its fun but I need to remember I'm not young anymore... stupid banana slide.

Ummm.... Joey? Maybe you need to have a talk with your cute little girl.

Stacy's birthday- March 26

I really wanted to go somewhere we don't usually go for my birthday so me and Justin, Hanny and Joey and my Mom went to Benihanas. It was so fun and good food too!

Our chef put on a pretty good show.

My delicious spicy tofu.

February 2010

2010-04-04T13:41:00.008-07:00

February 26, 2010

We took a trip up to Pinetop/Lakeside with the Gooches, Dodds, and the Lavenders. We stayed at my parents place and were able to play in the snow up at Sunrise Friday afternoon. We were originally invited by Casey Gooch to stay at his cabin in Christopher Creek, but things changed, and Casey volunteered my parents place. It was a blast. We got to hang out with friends and relax with nothing that had to be done.

Base camp at the bottom of the hill.

Look at me, I have a hat and a glove.
Stacy, after getting some sweet air with a not so graceful landing.
Marinda Dodds showing us all how it's done.
Stacy is so hot when she goes sledding!!
It starts out so nice. All in a row.
Slowly things start to get out of hand...
And finally, Amy shoves Stacy's head into the snow.
Marinda Dodds, Amy Gooch, Jodi Lavender, Stacy

January 2010

2010-04-04T11:52:00.010-07:00

Jada's baptism- January 9, 2010

A lot happened in January starting off with our niece Jada's Baptism. It was an awesome day for her and we were glad to be there to support her.

Hieroglyphic Canyon- January 16, 2010

Stacy, her parents, the Richard's and the Harris's got together to celebrate the one year anniversary of her Moms new knee by going on one of their favorite hikes. Justin was stuck at a job up in Scottsdale and was not able to join in on the fun.

These two do not look like they are taking this too serious. Who holds hands while they're hiking?

Here are the nieces and nephews, Drey, Sadie (peeking over the sign), Avery (a good head taller than Sadie), Dean (on the right), Zane, and Adelle. I'm not too sure Delly is having a good time.
Taking your own picture always turns out a little crooked.
Zane, just takin' a break.
Our favorite girlies (minus Hailey, Joslin, Joslin, Sariah, Camille, Hannah, Lauren, Avery, and Jada).
My name is Sadie, I like to stand by rocks.

Cookies make a great lunch!
Some of the hieroglyphs.
Delly pointing out where she peed on Joey's leg. Peeing outside is not too easy for little girls!
Group picture at the top.

December 2009

2010-04-01T14:15:00.014-07:00

Christmas Eve- December 23/24, 2010

We finally decided to get another family photo taken this year since BK was down with his great camera.

It's not often we get all the Beecroft side together anymore. It is even rarer that we are all together and looking in the same direction. Nice work BK!
Stacy likes to take her own pictures standing with her dad...
and mom...
and sisters.
Stacy's sister Mindy and her husband Grizly Adams.
BK and Juli's little Joslin getting her Christmas Eve present.
Delly showing us her new puppets.
Juli and her two little girls looking at their new presents.
This year for Stacy's parents, the kids transferred all of their old home video tapes to DVD. There was a bet going if there would be crying involved...

and there of course was!

Christmas Day- December 25, 2009

What? Socks for Christmas, in a stocking? I have never heard of that.
Santa knew just what Stacy wanted in her stocking. Who asks for a water bottle?
Even Coco got a little something.

After spending the morning at home we packed up and headed to Lakeside for Christmas with the Coxes. All of Justin's siblings were there. That means a full house and lots of noise.
Here are Lauren and Kawika trying to not be cute.
Stacy is Porter's favorite aunt in the whole world. She thinks he's pretty great too.
Kim with Austin, who was able to take a couple weeks leave for the Holidays. It was great for Kim to have her husband around.
This is the Utah Coxes. Apparently only Troy and Hannah were happy to be getting their picture taken.
The Mesa Coxes.
The HOT COXES! (It's amazing how much better I look when Stacy is standing next to me).
It is also a rare occasion that the Cox side gets together. So we decided to cram into as small a space as possible and snap a couple of shots off. I think everyone is looking at the camera too.

New Years Eve- December 31, 2009

Apparently someone forgot to tell the Utah Beecroft's that this wasn't a clothing optional party.
This was taken at 8:00. Imagine what she looked like by midnight.
Joslin getting some love from grandpa.
Always playing games with the family on New Years. It was fun.
Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year!!!
Happy Ne..... What the, where did this obviously doctored picture come from?
Bruce, reliving his glory years (as you can tell from the facial expression he doesn't remember them).
Have a peaceful New Year Man.

November 2009

2010-04-01T12:00:00.011-07:00

Phantom of the Opera- November 20, 2009

Stacy's parents thought it would be fun to take us out to dinner and a show. Only problem is, her dad was in Mexico. Not to worry, Avery was there to the rescue. She took Bruce's place and we were off.

We ate delicious mexican food from Garcia's (in honor of Bruce). It was a great way to start the night.

Here we are in front of the flashed out sign for Phantom of the Opera (he was inside my mind).

Joey got all dressed up for the occasion.

Us, not so dressed up.

Thanksgiving- November 26, 2009

Bruce did make it back in time for Thanksgiving. He put up this awesome playground in an attempt to get some of the "out of towners" down here. What kid doesn't want to play on that?

Thanksgiving at our house is pretty casual... you don't even have to comb your hair if you don't want. It's not a mullet.
Two grandpa's just chillin on the porch.
This was the "backyard o' fun". We played frisbee, golf, tag, football, and of course played on the new swing and slide.
Who wants a cheeseball? Traditional girls cheeseball picture, minus one girl, plus one guy on his knees with a caricature in front of his face.
Stacy and Hanny were glad to be home for Thanksgiving this year. Usually they're out traveling the world on this fantastic family holiday.
Can you spot the turkey?

October 2009

2010-04-01T10:34:00.006-07:00

Justin's birthday- October 26, 2009

For Justin's birthday this year I surprised him with a quick trip to Sedona. Justin had never been and I hadn't been since I was a kid so it was fun to go some place new.

We walked around downtown Sedona that night and ate at the best Mexican restaurant with the worst service. Justin accidentally spilled his drink and we waited 15 minutes while it dripped on our feet before we got someones attention. Totally worth it though.
Delicious apple pie and ice cream and good people watching on the main street.
Saturday we took a beautiful drive up Oak Creek Canyon a ways and then went to some craft fairs and art galleries in Sedona.
Yes, we found the best place on earth.
It was a short but great little trip. Happy Birthday Justin!

JDRF- October 31, 2009

We had another great year at the JDRF walk. The weather was beautiful and we were glad to be there to support Dean.

Adventures in painting.

2009-10-01T19:43:00.006-07:00

It is what it is. That was our motto for this job. And what it was was a 20 foot tall, 10 foot wide door. For any of you thinking that is not so big... you are wrong. It is huge, by far the biggest door we have ever painted. Since our biggest ladder (named Gigantor) is only 10 feet tall, we realized scaffolding would be necessary to get the job done. Justin assured me me and Mindy could set it up by ourselves so we went to Home Depot (where they of course tried to rip me off because I'm a girl) and picked it up. We quickly realized we would not be able to lug the heavy side panels up 15 ft by ourselves. Not sure what Justin was thinking on that one. Luckily our friend Ryan came to our rescue and set it up for us in his nice clothes and everything! The scaffolding was a little scary... we are not the most graceful and 15 feet is a long way to fall.

Speaking of graceful, Mindy stepped on the edge of her paint tray and sent paint flying all over the tile and herself. We've gotten pretty good at cleaning up our messes (not the first time this has happened) but today we only had 3 rags and some napkins from my glove department to clean up the tile and Mindy. Not sure how but we got it all cleaned up with out even getting caught.

Hanny came out of painting retirement on the second day to help us out. She kinda owed us since we let her practice her nursing skills on us the week before. Well, she practiced on me... Mindy totally would have let her but she only had 2 IV kits and since me and my Dad had already volunteered she was forced to sit that one out. Otherwise I'm sure she totally would have done it. Check out my awesome bruise from the procedure (there was a slight tourniquet malfunction). I was taking the picture my self with the flash so it doesn't really show all the beautiful colors of the blood.

The scaffolding was a little hard to get used to, we kept banging our heads and elbows. But I'm pretty sure Hanny left that day with hardly any brain damage-amage-amage-amage.

One other thing happened this day that had never happened to us before. We decided to take a lunch break and as Mindy was closing up the doors and windows a bird zoomed past her and in to the house. Really? There's a bird in your house? Hmm, that's weird.

When I got home the second night Justin was babysitting the Seguritan kids. We had so much fun with them, they are seriously the cutest kids. We don't get to see them too much because the live on the WRONG side of the valley! I wish they would do something about that.

There are just a few of the high (and low) lights of the job. It was an interesting one, thats for sure. Yay for being finished!

On the way home that night we saw this:

That is just wrong. The day before we saw an SUV and there was the happy little vinyl family but the Mom was peeled off. Not sure what is going on in North Mesa.

On a side note, Justin has lit himself on fire 3 times in the last three days. Twice on his jeans and once on his hat.

Who says you can't float the river twice in one month?

2009-07-29T20:21:00.004-07:00

Justin was able to take his Teachers (and our nephew Gage got to come along too) up for a week to Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Since there was a river run involved I of course went too! I opted not to camp with them though and spent the week instead as my brothers slave repainting his kitchen cabinets. Juli has always wanted to go river rafting and was able to come with me, it was so much fun to be able to watch her and Gage get to experience the river. I'm pretty sure she's hooked now too!

Since we didn't have any extra people watching I took pictures the first run and rode the second (so no pictures from that one). I was so nervous watching them come through because although Justin has been down the river so many times and has learned from the best it was his first time guiding the raft completely on his own. He did great though...for the most part. Coming into Kahuna it slipped his mind to tell those in front to "duck and tuck" so they hit the wall of water straight on, went flying back and took out the rest of the raft! I was worried about some of the boys because I knew they were a little nervous but they all agreed after that falling out was the funnest part!

I went on the second run and although it started to rain on us it was still so much fun. All the rapids were PERFECT, probably the best I've been on. It's a tradition that at the flat part of the river (Gauging straights) someone does a backflip off the raft as a sacrifice to Kahuna, otherwise you will flip your raft there. None of the boys would step up (something about the water being ice cold?) so I made the sacrifice. Probably not the best form but it did the job. When we went into Kahuna it seemed like we were in there forever and our raft got a little crooked, for a second I thought we were going to flip but I think the backflip did the trick and we came out the other side only losing one boy in the process. It was such a great day! Thanks Randy for taking us again and Heidi for letting me borrow your camera so I could get some good shots. The boys watched all the pictures at mutual last night and loved them!

Me and Juli

Justin's raft hitting Kahuna. You can't really tell from this picture since I was far away but it was HUGE (8 feet-ish?)!

When their raft came up I thought they had lost everyone since it was completely flat (there is actually one guy laying in the raft). Justin dumped everyone but one (including himself) and Randy lost two.

Randy's raft going through Kahuna.

Lunchcounter (below)

A close up of Gage's face...priceless!

Justin's raft in Lunchcounter.

Everyone survived and had a blast!!

Cabin, Canyon and Deer.

2009-07-19T11:52:00.009-07:00

The Harris's got a cabin in Flagstaff for a couple days and invited me and my Mom along. Even though we had just gotten back from Utah two days before we couldn't pass up the chance to get out of the heat.

The cabin was huge but this was where most of our time was spent...on the porch reading and playing games! It was great.

Since we were so close we decided to head to the Grand Canyon for the day. I hadn't been since I was little and it was beautiful!

Avery and her squirrel friend...she walked right up to it and pet it!

On the way back from the Grand Canyon we stopped at the deer farm in Williams. We have pictures there when I was about Dellys age. It was so much fun for all of us!

Don't do this....

or you end up like this with a concrete deer crushing your leg. Good idea Mom.

Such a great weekend...thanks for letting us tag along!

Remember that trip down the Snake River when I was 12? That was the greatest.

2009-07-17T14:48:00.009-07:00

On our way to the river!

Our first run.

Second run.

Lost another one!

Don't worry, Chassies got his foot!

Hey, where's our boat?

Cold and wet but happy to have made this trip in one piece!

Justin's brother Troy invited us to float the Snake River Friday with his wards youth the Friday after Tommys wedding and since it had been a couple years since we had gone we were so excited! We woke up super early to make the 5 hour drive to WY. For our first trip down we were with four of the kids, two boys in the front, two girls in the middle, me and Justin in the back and our cousin David was our guide. The first 10 minutes of our trip went great...then one of the girls fell out and she was under for about 5-10 seconds, it was so scary! After that the girls were both nervous and every time we hit even a little rapid they were both in the middle of the boat. The boys were pretty much worthless and none of them would paddle to save their lives! Which left me Justin and David doing all the work, which makes for not a very fun ride. The funniest thing ever happened though- coming up to the two biggest rapids, kahuna and lunch counter, Dave had stressed the importance of paddling through them so we can hit them right and not flip the raft. Instead, they decide to put their paddles in the air and yell like they were on a ride at Disneyland. Of course they got off balance and one of them (Chris) fell in. His friend flipped out and started yelling at the top of his lungs "Chriiiiis! Chriiiiiiis! Chris is in the water! Save him! Chris, my friend! Save my friend!! Chris! My friend!" and then he starts jumping across the boat trying to get to him. Maybe you needed to be there but it was hilarious. Finally we made it to the end of the river and all that was left was to get to the boat ramp...sounds easy enough right? Well somehow my side of the raft dipped down a little and both of the kids fell out. So we were trying to get them the rope and back to the boat and missed the ramps. We ended up missing them by about 300 feet and just barely making it to the last place where we could have gotten out. Had to hike up a super steep hill to get out and pull the boat up it too. It was stressful and a mess and I was so glad to be done!

So the second trip down we decided to change it up and had one of Troys friends Teg, me, Justin, Chassie and David guiding again. We were so excited to have such a good raft and it was great until we got to blind canyon (blind because right after it is kahuna and lunch counter that you can't see) we hit just a little rapid but behind it was a pretty good reversal that sucked the side of the boat down us and flipped us all completely out! I was under just a few seconds but long enough to panic a little! So we had to all get back to the boat and get in quickly knowing the big ones were just around the corner. In the process we lost 2 paddles which left it to Teg Justin and David to do all the work the rest of the river and me and Chassie got a free ride.

All in all we had a great time, more eventful than usual but still a ton of fun! Randy always says that one of the best things about the river is all the stories that we have from it. Every time we get together we sit and talk about all the things that have happened and the stories never get old! I'm pretty sure the trips we had this time will come up a few times in the future too. Thanks Troy and Heidi for the invite and Randy for taking us all and David for keeping us alive! Best part is we get to do it all again in a week!

You've been noodled!

2009-07-12T16:26:00.007-07:00

Mom and Joey celebrating their solo anniversaries.

This was a fun game- the kids hit Justin with their noodles for about 15 minutes straight.

Hailey, Joslin and Noah with their favorite aunt.

We met Bk in Salt Lake for lunch where he got us reservations at a semi-exclusive resturaunt...the church office cafeteria! It was yummy and pretty cheap too. Afterwards we got to go up to the top of the building and had a great view of Temple Square and Salt Lake. Went and watched the Joseph Smith movie and then had to hurry back to Bks so him and Mom and Joey could make it to the temple open house. Me and Justin got to see Juli and the new house and play with the kids for awhile. Got some take out from a delicious Mexican restaurant for dinner then headed back to Orem to wake up super early to go to the river!

The Levis Action Suit.

2009-07-08T23:15:00.005-07:00

The suit in action.

Last night we drove up to Provo for our nephew Tommy's wedding to Jill, it was so good and they have an awesome anniversary- 07/08/09 at 10 am. It was really weird to me though because he was only 11 years old when I met him! Justin rocked the vintage blue Levis action suit, it was a hit. And yes he is the middle child. Tommy and Jill looked great at the reception, they are such a cute couple. The brothers went all out and decorated their car with a gangsta Montoya sticker. It was pretty sweet. After the reception we went to Costa Vida to eat...SO good but I'm still so full I can't go to sleep! Good times.

Why yes, we have been painting.

2009-07-05T16:36:00.007-07:00

When we showed up we realized we had both brought and excess of snacks...layoff we're starving!!

Hurt nose bump.

When we are painting we are pretty much a mess covered in paint. For some reason when we go anywhere the first thing every person always say is "You've been painting!" and then they laugh like it is the most funny original thing thats ever been said. Thank you Captain Obvious. Occasionally we get something different, like one time a lady asked me if I worked at the zoo. What? This week we were painting in Globe and on the 3rd day we went in the same Chevron to get our beverages and as I was checking out the guy at the register asked me if my clothes were the new style. So of course I told him yes it was a new style and he tells me "There is a girl that comes in well, semi-regularly, (and I knew right then he was talking about Mindy) actually I thought you were her, and she is covered in paint and I never asked her but I thought either it is a new style or she is painting alot!". So if you are ever in Globe and see people wearing paint covered clothes, we started that.

After painting doors for over three years we decided to also start painting and decorative painting interiors. People always ask us if we do that but we were always busy with doors so we didn't. Since were not so busy with that now we decided to branch out. We've been practicing in our homes and families and feel confident now. Especially after seeing some of the horrible paint jobs in these million dollar homes we knew we could do better. So this week we had our first official job in Globe. It was a rental and he wanted the entire thing painted, including popcorn ceilings! Nothing fancy but we figured we have to start somewhere. It was definitely not what we were used to...we were still hot and dirty and it was hard work, I guess mostly it was the scenery that changed. I won't go into details but lets just say we weren't exactly soaking our feet in the pool eating nachos and enjoying the waterfall!

There are definitely highs and lows when we are painting. Luckily we seem to be able to have fun even when things are not so good. When Mindy just can't go on anymore we have to listen to the Killers version of Romeo and Juliet (over and over again if necessary) and we listened to it quite a few times on this job! I finally made a mix that had it every few songs and that seemed to work pretty well. Towards the end though we were so beat that wasn't even working. I know if that song doesn't get her singing she's got some pretty bad silent despair. She did take most of the corn though and I owe her big time for that! Lets see what else...I got soaked when halfway through one of the downpours I realized I left my suitcase in the back of the truck, a guy at the top of the hill didn't park his truck right and rolled all the way down the steep hill hitting two telephone poles. I was really lucky it didn't roll my way and take out my truck. When I got home Justin had clean the entire house! He gets best husband award for that one. I can't think of anything else, I think I might have blocked it out. There's a nice long post for you Dad, hopefully Mindy will do a better job!

There's no charge for awesome-ness.

2009-06-30T20:48:00.004-07:00

This morning started WAY to early at 4:30 am! Me and Hanny decided to do a class called Total Body Conditioning and it was no joke. Justin agreed to go too but when I woke him up this morning all he said was "you're not my friend" and rolled over and went back to sleep. I couldn't blame him because if Hanny wasn't coming to get me I would have done the same thing. About half way through class the poor girl in front of me had to leave and go throw up, thats how bad it was. Thankfully she made it outside to the trash can, we all know how well that would have went over if she hadn't. It was nice to be done and ready to go early this morning though. I met the Harris's for summer movie fun (Kung Fu Panda, funny) and split our traditional YC's for lunch. This afternoon was spent watching Porter which is always fun and trying to recover from this mornings class. Unfortunately I am not one of those people who has a ton of energy after working out, I even dozed off a couple times in the movie! Justin took the camera to work today so there is not even a photo to go with this boring post. Are you sure you want me to post about my days Dad??

2009-06-13T12:34:00.005-07:00

I'm going to try and post more of the going ons around here for my Dad (who is stuck 3 out of 4 weeks in Mexico) so he can be more in the loop. So just a warning...none of this may be very interesting! Me and Min had a huge job this week- a huge double door, a wine door and a ton of super intricate railing. We were painting 12 -14 hour days to try and get it done so I know a little how you feel now Dad! We finally finished last night at 8 pm! At about 6 last night I looked over at Min and she was completely laying on the floor with just one hand in the air fauxing. It was so funny and sad. We were completely beat. We had some good times though and it turned out really good I think. I slept in until 8 this morning and while the house needs cleaned so bad I don't think I'm going to do it.

Justins been working on the new back porch this week. The concrete got poured and he is out working on the landscaping around it right now. Its going to be so nice.

Coco is moping around because Mom and Bandit just left for Safford. I think she might be wondering what she is going to eat with Mom gone.

Well that is it for now. I'll try and be better about posting!

Awkward goodness

2009-05-05T07:44:00.004-07:00

www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

When you get to the bottom of the page hit "older posts". Luckily there are not too many of them yet or I would have spent all day there and no time studying for my final tonight. Too funny. Unfortunately my family has many family photos that would be perfectly at home on this site. In fact there is currently one being showcased on my parents refrigerator, I'm going to take that down right now lest anyone get any ideas!!

Joshua Radin x3

2009-04-24T11:06:00.004-07:00

I'm stealing this post from my sister because I'm too lazy to make my own...just like I steal her water! Thanks Hanny.

Every 3rd Thursday, The Edge 103.9 has a free concert. This last Thursday my sisters and I decided to have a much needed girls night out and go to it. Joshua Radin was playing...who is just the greatest! Josh and I have been through some tough times together. Whenever I'm studying and stressing out because my brain won't hold anymore information, I put on my Joshua Radin CD and let his voice just make everything better. We started the night off sharing a BIG salad and pizza crusts at Nello's. We had to go to the Nello's in Tempe because of "an incident" that happened at the Nello's in Chandler. Let's just say that we can't go to the Chandler Nello's anymore.

When we got to the place in Scottsdale where the concert was being held, we were surprised how few people were there. We were even 45 minutes late and it didn't seem like anyone was there. So we decided to go into Dos Gringos (which is a bar/club) to use the restroom. I must say I was a little flattered that we got carded! Maybe they just card everyone because I'm pretty sure we look "of age". As we were walking to the back looking for the restrooms...lo and behold ...guess who is just sitting there at a table with a couple of other people. None other than Joshua Radin himself! I saw him but didn't make the connection of who it was until we went into the bathroom and Tia said "Did you see Joshua Radin sitting right there!?" I wasn't expecting him to be just out in the general population so it didn't register that it was him just sitting there! We quickly got out our cameras and went back out to ask him for a picture but just that fast he was GONE! We looked everywhere thinking he just stepped outside or something but to no avail. Talk about a missed opportunity! We went outside to the stage and still there were not that many people around so we walked right up and got in the front row. By the time the concert actually started around 9:00 PM there were TONS of people there and we were right in the front row center! It was perfect!

There were two openers before Joshua Radin came on...the first was a local band called Try Me Bicycle and they were really good!

The second was a chick named Meiko and she was also really good.

After Meiko performed, Tia announced that she was really parched and she was going to buy a drink. I couldn't let her lose her great spot in the front row so I reached into my purse and pulled out a giant bottle of water. We had a great laugh over that one! It's kind of an inside joke. Whenever Tia and I travel to Europe I always buy a HUGE water bottle to carry around...just in case.. and Tia never does because she doesn't want to have to carry it. It never fails that she gets really thirsty and ends up drinking my water. I'm a good sister...so I share. It was just funny that I had a big water bottle. Probably not to anyone else...but it was funny to us! Sorry! I like to stay hydrated!!Finally, Joshua Radin came on stage and gave a great concert! We had prime spots in the front! He was like 10 feet away from us! It was so totally worth it to stay up WAY past my bedtime to see him. I'm not in the habit of collapsing into bed in the early morning hours. I was really...really..tired the next day but so glad we went!

And of course the evening wouldn't be complete without an obnoxious drunk person(in the pink jacket) invading our personal space. She was pushing her way through trying to get up to the front. She was loud and annoying but we had a good laugh at her expense. Drunk people are freaking hilarious!
A good time was had by all. A big thanks to my home-girls for making it all possible!

Italy 2009!

2009-03-28T21:15:00.018-07:00

We had a fantastic time on our trip to Italy! Here are lots of pictures to prove it. We will not bog you down with very well written long stories (like last year). Just some very well written captions.

In the airport in London we ran into Trent Hoffman on the way to his mission in Mozambique. He was one of Justins deacons and Joeys mission prep students. It was really cool!

Milan and Como-

After almost 24 hours we finally arrived in Milan!

On Lake Como, about an hour north of Milan. Beautiful scenery, including George Clooneys THREE villas (not pictured).

"I'm on a boat!"

I jump the Milan Duomo.

Justin jumps.

Me and my nephew Gage (Whammy!) Big doors at the Duomo.

Verona-

The castle at Verona.

This is a really cool bridge going into the castle at Verona.

I jump Verona bridge.

Joey, Gage and Justin by the arena.

Justin by a ginormous Roman-Greco. (That's for you Russ!)

Venice-

The Doges Palace. I loved that place- a ton of amazing art...others weren't so excited. (Not the only time that happened on this trip.)

Whammy!

One of the many picturesque canals.

Florence and Pisa-

The Duomo in Florence.

Lots of ceiling art in Italy!

Hold it!

Don't act like you're not impressed! Going up the stairs, can you tell which side of the tower we are on? (Notice the stairs and wall are worn on one side). It felt like a funhouse going up.

At the very top of the tower!

Yeah, I'm doin it too.

I jump Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Back in Florence, in front of the Neptune Fountain.

I jump Florence.

Gates of Paradise.

Rubbing the boars nose-this means we will come back to Florence! It'd better work...

A view of Florence.

Assisi-

This is where St. Francis of Assisi is from. Justin hand models the cathedral they built to honor him.

Assisi's really pretty!

Rome-

I jump the Colosseum!

This place was great big. Really cool. Short sentences.

The Arch of Constantine.

The Roman Forum.

St. Peters Basilica.

St. Angel castle and the bridge (below) were built between 117 and 138!

At little dark but this is in front of the Trevi Fountain.

That is our trip in a picture-shell. If any of you have thought about going to Italy, I would say "just go man". It was super fun and we look forward to any trips we might be able to take again in the future. A big shout out to Joseph Marie Edwin Sanchez Harris for letting us tag along.

PUPPIES, GET YOUR FRESH PUPPIES HERE!!!

2009-03-27T20:43:00.003-07:00

We got home from Italy on Friday and our dog, Coco, was having her puppies. She had four this time, 2 boys and 2 girls. These pictures were taken today at 1 week old. We didn't take any right after they were born (long flight+time difference=forgetful people). Here they are.

This is one of the boys. He's gonna look like Coco.

This is the other boy and he is going to look like his dad.

This is one of the girls. She eats a lot.

This is the little boy again. I thought it was the other girl and I don't want to figure out how to fix it. He's cute though.

Here they are doing what they do best.

Here's our last little girl.

If you know anybody that is looking for a dog, these ones are perfect (it's a fact, I wouldn't just say that).

I'm Headed to Italy....Does Anyone Have a Vest I Can Borrow?

2009-03-09T13:28:00.004-07:00

We are headed to Italy today and I thought I would leave you with this great thought. If muffins are just ugly cupcakes, then what is a corndog?

The title to this post is dedicated to my family. You know what I'm talking about.

7 things...

2009-01-15T22:07:00.011-07:00

My sister reminded me that she had tagged me to do this and I never had. Well there was a reason. Im pretty sure if I do this too much of my crazy will show but I guess I will do it anyways. My family at least still has to love me, right? Right??

Seven random things about me:

1. We all know I am a germ freak. But its gotten steadily worse over the years and I really am afraid of ending up like Howard Hughes in the Aviator. The way of the future...the way of the future... Luckily you have to be rich to go too crazy so we're pretty safe there. But still I try to do things occasionally that go againts everything I stand for. Like opening a door without immediately sanitizing.

2. I don't get sweater vests. Sometimes I think they look cute but I just can't imagine a situation where I'm like you know what? My torso is really cold today...not so much my arms, just my torso...good thing I have a vest! My mother-in-law, knowing this, got me an awesome vest for Christmas. Here I am modeling it for you:

Even funnier is my sister-in-law Becky, knowing I would return it, wrote in huge letters all over the tag "Return to Rebecca Montoya" so that I can't return it without looking like a total thief and she could have the vest. Classic.

3. One time I threw a paper straw wrapper in some ladies soda at QT. Not on purpose, she left it there on the counter (without a lid! Who does that?) to go make another soda and I tried to shoot my wrapper over it into the trash and missed. How I managed that I don't know because I was only about 12 inches away from her soda. I froze for a second not knowing what to do...then picked it out really quick and walked away as quick as I could. I don't know if she saw me because I never turned around. Which leads me to my next...

4. I never leave my beverage unattended except with trusted individuals. I'm so afraid someone will spit in it while I'm gone. I hate spit. And now Im afraid someone will throw something in it and I won't know until I've drank the whole thing.

5. The suction tube at the dentist gives me the giggles. I don't know why but it is really awkward because I get the giggles after everytime they make me put my mouth around it to suck all my spit out.

6. I recently discovered the Home Shopping Network online. And bought something with Flexpay -- 2 easy payments!! Justin has now banned me from looking for 2 months.

7. In March I will have been to Europe 5 times in the past 2 years. So now you can think I'm weird AND hate me too! :)

I re-tag Justin, Min and Eric, and Bk!

Thanksgiving in Prague!

2008-12-12T09:20:00.017-07:00

Yes, I said Prague. When I would tell people that we were going to Prague for Thanksgiving they would get a weird look on their face and say "Whats in Prague?". Well, let me tell you - alot! Just to name a few things... there is a castle, a huge cathedral, a cool old bridge, a river, lots of history, architecture of all styles, main square, a famous clock and much more! We had so much fun! Everyone should take a trip to Prague. I'm posting alot of pictures, if you want to know about all we did and saw go to my sisters blog, she did a really good post about our trip.

What? Nothing.

When we got back to the hotel the first evening after a short city tour they had a full Thanksgiving dinner ready for us! Nice.

Our second day in Prague.

Our first Diet Cokes of the trip. I don't what they put in it but it is SO much better in other countries! I love it!

The Powder Tower

I have a slight, ok full-blown, obsession with silver rings and especially amber. There were shops like these all over Prague. I was in heaven! Poor Hanny had to stop and look in everyone until I found the one I wanted (and a few times after). Lucky for Justin I forgot my credit card.

The famous astronomical clock of Prague. It has quite a history behind it.

The clock tower and main square.
They had a Christmas market going on in the square with all kinds of shops and traditional treats. One of our favorites was called Trdelnik. It was sweet bread twisted around a wooden stick, roasted over the fire and then rolled in sugar. SO good! We enjoyed those more than once.

They had the coolest doors!

The main square with the clock (on the left).

Some times you just gotta sit... :)

We went up to see the castle and St. Vitus cathedral. It was beautiful!

Inside the cathedral.

I jump for castles.

Hanny actually put her finger on the Royal Guards bayonet. It was real. Ouch.

The view from the top. These pictures don't do it justice!

The stairs to the castle.

The John Lennon wall.
Our third day we went for a walk along the river to the Charles bridge. It was so pretty!

Along the river with the Opera house in the background.

On the Charles bridge with its 31 statues.

The most famous is St John of Nepomuk. He was thrown off the bridge and killed for not telling the King what the Queen said in confession. If you rub the statue it is supposed to bring you luck. I was feeling pretty lucky already!

On the brige with one of the bridge towers behind me. I enjoyed all the artists and performers set up along the bridge.

The street behind me leads up to the castle.

Just as we were leaving they turned the lights on the castle and cathedral. It was so beautiful!

This was Hanny after 2 1/2 days of straight walking. We found a little ledge to rest on and warm up. I wish I knew how many miles we logged...it was alot! She perked right up though after we found her another CUTE bag to buy! Until...

We got stuck in this mess. They were having the tree lighting ceremony in the square that night and apparently everyone in Prague shows up for it. It was crazy! This was right before they lit the tree (on the right, which was really pretty). It took us about 45 minutes to make it from one side of the square to the other.

If you want the story on this picture you have to go to my sisters blog. Everyones got their issues. Thats all I'm gonna say.

It was a short trip but we packed alot into it and had a great time! Thanks again to Joey for letting us go and Justin for spending another Thanksgiving on his own so I could travel. You are the best!

The Dwipee

2008-11-10T22:19:00.003-07:00

My sister in law Katie created this super cute and handy invention- "The Dwipee", but I think credit for the awesome name goes to Donovan. Anyways, if you know anyone having a baby or has a baby they need one of these! It would make a great baby shower gift or Christmas gift and she has some left over from a boutique she just did, so get them now before they are gone! Check out kurlgirlcreations.blogspot.com for all the info.

Happy Birthday Justin!!

2008-10-26T20:57:00.003-07:00

I've noticed that on birthdays/anniversaries most people write a big long list on why they love their husbands but I decided I didn't want to make you all jealous so I will just say my husband is way better than yours in every way. It's true.

Since his birthday was on Sunday this year we went out Saturday night to dinner and one of our favorite activities...goofy golfing. There are some high stake bets (of course) and lots of fun. Justin was pretty determined to win this time since he's never been able to beat me. He did win 2 free dish nights of his choice on a couple of the holes but the game ended in a tie. So we decided we both won. Good times.

Our hole in ones...we're good.

Payback

2008-10-13T19:40:00.004-07:00

Growing up my sister Alisa's best friend was Kristi. They loved to hate me, the pesky little sister. They would create exclusive clubs (complete with tape laminated club cards) and promise me entrance only if I would be their slave for as long as they wanted. As soon as they had to let me in, they would make me a card and then suddenly decide they weren't in the Pink Pearl club anymore and would start a new, even more exclusive club. One day I said they would be sorry for how they treated me...that day is today. Alisa and Kristi were New Kids on the Block fanatics. They went to all the concerts, knew all the words, dance moves, had all the pictures. When I found out about the New Kids reunion tour I asked Hanny if she would want to go with me just for fun. She said no she couldn't, she would be in school and didn't know what would be going on and that she'd probably be too busy. Alright fine. Then a couple weeks later she says "Guess what?! I am going to the New Kids concert with Kristi!!" Yep. So this is for you Hanny and Kristi, I hope you had fun at the concert tonight!

Alisa before one of the New Kids concert. Awesome backwards suspenders!!

Alisa and Kristi

Don't hate me, you know you love me! These pictures may be funny now, but you two were the coolest girls ever!

Family Pictures

2008-09-18T19:42:00.010-07:00

So my family has never had the best of luck when it comes to family pictures. There was the blush incident, the kneeling in dresses incident, countless color mishaps (dark shirts + black background = floating heads), and most recently the grapefruit incident. Although the grapefruit holder cannot really be blamed for that one. We gave up trying for a decent family picture for years but it seems like that could all be behind us thanks to my awesome brother! Here are some of my favorites that he took last month. Thanks BK!!

Although it was outside in August all the kids behaved pretty well under the threat of no Chucky Cheese after if they didn't smile and hold still for the pictures. Although some of the adults probably would have been as disappointed as the kids if we didn't go. We have some addictive personalities in my family. We joke that if we didn't have the church half of us would be alcoholics spending our whole paychecks at the casino. Instead we try and find some less damaging pastimes to get our fix in. One of these is the "Wheel of Fortune" game. It is so addicting! We all gather around the game (too bad if anyone else wants to play while we are there) and pretty much make a scene. This year Gage and Drey joined in with us (looks like the gene has been passed on) and Drey set a record I'm pretty sure will never be broken- three Wheels of Fortune...in a ROW! Good times.

Joshua Radin

2008-09-12T10:25:00.003-07:00

The new Joshua Radin CD "Simple Times" came out this week! He is my favorite singer right now. This picture was taken at his concert a couple months ago with the coolest girl ever, Erin. It was so much fun! You can check him out here: http://www.joshuaradin.com/. He's awesome!

Giant panda or puppy?

2008-09-04T21:06:00.008-07:00

Our dog Coco had 2 puppies but only one survived...he is super cute and looked like this when he was born:

2 1/2 short weeks later and he looks like this:

Check out the rolls down his arms-he is seriously the fattest puppy I have ever seen. With no competition for food he just lays around and eats and sleeps all day (yes, the best life ever!). He is still not spoken for so if anyone is interested speak up! I think he is going to be a really good dog (as long as he is fed regularly).

Also I started back to school and it is going good. I really like my classes and my schedule. Plus main campus makes for some prime people watching. I just can't wait for it to cool off because its HOT and unlike half the girls that go to ASU I actually wear clothes when I walk around campus. Other than that its good!

QC Out!

2008-08-11T12:36:00.012-07:00

We finally have internet so I guess we will give this blogging thing another try! We are no longer residents of The QC, we signed all the papers last Thursday so we are officially out. We are moving back to the apartment behind my parents in Gilbert. Before we moved in we decided to maybe just paint the walls and fix up a few things and before we knew it we had an all out project. We started painting the walls and all the sudden carpet, tile and cabinents were all being ripped out too! Just about everything in there got painted or replaced. Thanks to my parents we are going to have a really nice place, I think they took pity on us since we are going backwards in life and all! I love projects like this and lucky for me I have a Mom who although hates to paint, likes to help me with my projects! We are just waiting on carpet to be installed and then we can move in. So in the meantime all of our stuff (which who knew we had so much of!) is piled in the front room and kitchen and pantry and bathroom. Oh and taking up half of the garage too. We'll see if we can make it all fit. I will post some before and after pics once we get everything finished.

These house pictures are for you MaryAnn!

Moving Day
As much of a mess this is, I actually still wish it looked this good. Now it looks like the boxes have exploded as we have had to start ripping into them to get stuff we need.

Coco is loving life as a farm dog. Every time she goes out she has to check on her kitty, the chickens and cows. Plus she has Bandit to play with all the time, they are good friends. She should be having her puppies in about a week so if anyone is interested let me know. They go fast!

My wife is Wii-tarded 64!!

2008-06-16T17:02:00.008-07:00

So Stacy bought us a Wii about a month ago because she wanted to play MarioKart. If any of you have a Wii, you probably know how hard it is to find MarioKart. You also must know how much all the extra's cost for these things, not to mention buying games at $50 a piece. She was super excited to get MarioKart, as time went by and we couldn't find it at any of the stores (every store either just sold the last one, or were just waiting for the new shipment), her excitement dulled until she finally decided to sell the stupid thing. Luckily we have a nephew that was in the market for a new gaming system.

I thought she had gotten all of this video game non-sense out of her system. Then we visited my parents house to see my brother and his family that had come down from Orem for the week. Well they brought their Wii and their MarioKart. Stacy, who is way better than me at video games, was hooked. We had already told her nephew that he could buy our Wii so she was now in quite the quandry. Always the thinker, she pulled out an old N64 that we had when we first got married. She then found her way to eBay and it was on. She found MarioKart and SuperMario 64. They arrived last week and I am pretty sure she has been playing them everyday since.

Just now I was watching a very entertaining re-run of Scrubs on Comedy Central when she kicked me off the TV so she could play. I took this picture so I could show you what I have been looking at for the last 2 hrs of my life.

My wife may be a Wii-tard, but she is my Wii-tard and I love her for it. (She is super hot too. Especially when she makes me PB&H)

Check out my jugs!

2008-05-16T18:51:00.005-07:00

Yeah, they're real...

And so are these. Don't be a hater Hanny! Perk up, it's ok if one's a little higher than the other.

I was in Greece but never got Greecy

2008-04-04T14:10:00.004-07:00

Well it’s about time we update this blog of ours. As many of you know, we recently took a trip to Greece with a group of 46 people. 39 high school kids and 7 adults (6 acted like adults). I am posting a ton of pictures and will try to give a description of each, but make no promises. This is the longest post of my life. If you feel like reading it you may want to get comfortable, or you can skip to the next posts to see the pictures.

I do want to let each of you know that if you told us what you wanted, we did find it. But it most likely got lost with every body's luggage on the way home. Lala we did find you a Costas, in fact I think ½ of the men there were named Costas, but he wouldn’t fit in Tia’s bag. Russ, I looked all over and couldn't find a Grecco Roman, or a Roman Grecco. Apparently they aren't as popular as I thought.

The trip started out just great. All the kids made it to the airport and no one got left behind (like last year). Joey and I got matching jogging suits so the kids would not get lost. They were awesome. We wanted to look like the girls that wore matching sweat suits too. It worked…… (Definitely a misuse of …….)………..

……Those were good times. The rest of the trip was not nearly so smooth. We got to JFK to find out our flight to London was delayed because some crazy guy (not my dad) was running around on the runway. So we ended up spending about 8 hrs in the airport. That caused us to only have a short connection time in London SO…when we got to Athens we found out that the entire group’s luggage was not on the plane with us from London. We went to our hotel and ate dinner, then went to find some toiletries since we had none. Athens is not so pretty at night. I think they put us in a hotel in the worst part of the city (it was right downtown though). But I guess that is what you get when you’re looking for a good price on a hotel room. Sometime during the night 16 people received their luggage and within a couple days about 1/2 of the group had theirs as well. T-bird and I were part of the 1/2 still with no luggage. Luckily Hanny and Joey got theirs and we happen to wear the same sizes. We both know that next year (we’re going to Italy, thanks Joey!!) we only need a carry on the size of a football and we can survive.

Our first day in Athens, I realized that Athens is not so pretty during the day time either. The garbage collectors were on strike, as were the cab drivers and the countries utility workers. We were told not to ride in elevators (our room was on the 3rd floor) because the power might go off and you could get stuck in one for over an hour. FANTASTIC!!!

Our tour guide the first day was named Costas, as was our bus driver. We went to the Acropolis and took a picture that is surprisingly close to my personal rendition. That place was incredible. We also were able to stand on Mars Hill. This is the hill where Paul preached to the Athenians. It was truly amazing that such awesome archeological sites can be surrounded by such ugliness. One of the really cool things about Athens is that you can see the Parthenon on the Acropolis from just about anywhere in the city. We have some great pictures from all over Athens and the ruins that are strewn about the city. In the afternoon we were able to run around on our own and see some of the smaller ruins. That was superfuntastical.

The next day we drove about 3 hours to Delphi, which is up at the top of a mountian. About ½ the group stayed behind to go shopping for clothes and other supplies. We decided to go on the tour and tough it out with no clothes. Joey stayed behind to take the other ½ to the mall and me, Tia and Hanny went with the others. It was really beautiful up there and the place was spectacular (you like my word usage don’t you). The kids were really fun too.

This year we took a cruise for 4 days to see the Greek islands. That was really fun. We didn’t have to sit on our butts and sleep on a bus while we traveled. We got to lie in our beds and sleep while we traveled. Since Tia and I had no luggage and we were sharing with Joey and Hanny, we decided to sleep the boys together and girls together. This way we weren’t constantly running across the hall to borrow things. That worked out great. (Those aren’t pillows!)

On our cruise we stopped at Mykonos, which is a pretty island. This is the Greece you see on TV: pretty beaches, white houses on the hill side, and super blue water. We had about 4 hours to wander around town. There was not much to see there but the shops were pretty cool. Too bad it was dark because we didn’t get to wander around too much.

Our 2nd port of call was Kusadasi, Turkey. We decided not to go on the tour excursion that the cruise line offered and just go into town and look around. I believe this island is where the Ephesians that Paul taught lived. I wasn’t feeling too hot so Joey and I went back to the boat and left the girls to fend for themselves. They had a blast shopping and having all the Turkish men stare at them. We were there just for the morning and then headed to Patmos.

Patmos, our 3rd port of call was really cool. This is the island that John the Revelator was exiled. We visited the cave where he supposedly received the “Word of God” through a crack in the wall and wrote Revelations. I am not much of a historian, but they sure seemed to think that was the exact place. Our taxi driver then took us to a monastery at the top of this hill where we had an awesome view of the bay and the town below. We spent the rest of our time looking through the tourist shops and buying sodas and water to take back on the ship.

The next morning we arrived in Rhodes for out 4th port of call. This place was by far the neatest place we visited. We could have spent the whole 10 days in this town. It is divided into the new town and old town. Old town is awesome. The old city walls are still standing everything inside the walls was old school. We hired a taxi to take us to Lindos, another place that Paul visited. That place was one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The water was so blue and clear (can water be clear and blue at the same time?). We hiked up the acropolis to the monastery. There are lots of those in Greece. Joey and I found awesome matching Greek outfits (see pix). Our taxi driver was awesome and saved us about 100 euros by giving us his tour instead using the cruise line tour. Tia found this huge, and I mean HUGE, amber ring and made me buy it for her. It is a fabulous ring and worked out good that her birthday was last week. Rhodes is great, Rodos as the locals call it.

Our last day on the cruise we visited Crete, don’t know much about it. We got off the boat in the morning and looked around, but the city didn’t look like much so Joey and myself just hung out and talked to some of the kids. Then we played some hoops and got schooled by an 8 year old. Tia and her sister went with a couple from our group and hired a taxi to take them around. They didn’t report too much and the pictures weren’t even that good. We were there for the morning and then headed for our last port of call, Santorini.

This place was really cool too. The town is built on the edge of a cliff high above the ocean. They don’t even have a marina. We just dropped anchor about 500 yards out and had a tender boat pick us up and take us to a small dock. From there we rode donkeys up these awesome switchbacks. That was quite the experience. I wish we had more time there because we weren’t able to see much of the town as it was getting dark. We did, however, find a great little place that had delicious waffles and ice cream. Tia, myself, and a couple of girls from the group decided to walk down the same path that the donkeys took us up (they also have a cable car to take you up and down). By the time we got down our legs were shaking with every step. We were even able to avoid most of the donkey poop too.

The next morning we disembarked in Athens and immediately got on a bus for a drive to the Temple of Poseidon. This was our last full day in Athens. By the time we got this far, not having any luggage and traveling with that many high school kids, we didn’t care much about anything or anyone but ourselves. So we were very excited to take our pictures and leave. When we got done with the tour to Poseidon’s Temple we headed back into Athens and checked into our hotel. Guess what we found when we got there, the day before we left. That is correct. The remaining luggage was delivered to our last hotel on the last night of our trip. Woo hoo!!! We opened it and found that it was all wet and moldy. Great job British Airlines!!!

Our last afternoon Stacy and I took a few of the kids back into town so they could get some last minute souvenir shopping in. I think it’s always more fun to get out on your own and see the place you’re visiting. By the way, the greatest thing about the “city” part of Athens is the subway. It was really clean and easy to use. They also made it into a museum because they uncovered some ruins as they were building the subways. Really cool.

That is our trip in a really huge nutshell. Pictures are in no particular order but do tell a story.

Greece Pictures

2008-04-04T14:01:00.006-07:00

We wanted to post so many pictures that will need to check out the next two posts in order to see them. We took over 500 pictures and these are the best of the best. I hope you enjoy them cuz this took forever to get them all on here.

After our donkey ride up to Santorini we ate found this ice cream place and got some delicious ice cream and this great waffle. After that we walked back down to the dock.

Here is my beautiful wife and her sister (also beautiful) with the Parthenon in the back ground.

She's knockin but no one's answering. I think this in on Patmos.

Honestly, how did someone as ugly as me get a wife like this. She makes this life jacket look like it belongs at a fashion show. She is so hot.

This is in Rhodes with old town behind us.

Did I mention this ice cream place. We found it at the top of the cliff in Santorini.

Pictures of Greece

2008-04-04T13:38:00.009-07:00

Here are some pictures in no particular order.

We were taking this picture and a bald guy actually walked in front of the shot. We were a little late in taking the picture but you can tell by Tia's face she was having a good time.

This is me and Tia in Rhodes. This the Road or Street, possible a Lane or Way of the Knights. This is in old town Rhodes.

This is what Santorini looks like from the water. You can see the donkey path going up the side of the cliff. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Here is my gorgeous wife and me from the town of Santorini looking over the cliff. This place was super cool.
My wife, her sister, and an anchor. Who is holding who back? I think that would be great book title. If anybody can think of a story to go with it let me know.

Here we are when times were good at the airport in Phoenix.

We are in Rhodes. Just over our right shoulders there used to be a giant statue of the Colossus. His feet were on either side of dock. They took it down during the war to use it for something. I wasn't really paying attention so I am not sure why.

We like to ride the donkeys.

This is on Patmos just outside the cave where John wrote Revelations. They built a monastery around it.

When you hve to go.....go with a friend. We are on the Acropolis in Athens.

These are the coolest matching outfits ever right? I don't know why so don't ask.

Here we are on the Acropolis of Athens. This is a temple to Poseidon. He had a few of them.

This was our last day, just before we got our luggage. This is another temple of Poseidon. It sat out on a cliff overlooking the ocean, it was pretty cool.

Me and my hot wife at the same place.

This is looking up at the Prthenon from Mars Hill. This is where Paul preached to the Athenians.

Tia and Hanny have decided that it is tradition to eat a muffin before you start a trip. So they ate a muffin.

Stacy likes my butt. It is pretty nice.

This is Nicholas. He was our taxi driver/tour guide on Rhodes. He was great.

This is on Patmos and this picture was perfect. You couldn't have staged that perfect picture. Tia laughed pretty hard about that since it is almost a perfect match of my drawing. Just the wrong place.

Pictures of Greece

2008-04-04T13:08:00.008-07:00

These pictures are in no particular order. Just be happy to see some pictures. I don't think you can ask for anything more.

At the museum in Delphi we weren't able to pose with the artifacts. We could take pictures, but we couldn't be in them.

We had to pretend to not be posing in order to get into our photos.

Notice the technique. Just looking the other way.

I am getting old. Here I am using some E-stim to help out with the pain in my lower back. Thank you Eric.

Tia likes to jump in Kusadasi, Turkey.

This almost looks like my original picture. The only thing missing is the boat. The castle in the backround is in Turkey.

Isn't this place nice. This is Lindos. You can see the acropolis behind us.

Tia likes to jump in Crete.

I like to crawl in caves. This in Delphi.

I thought it would be cool to look like an old column. Apparently the guy with the whistle didn't think so. As soon as I started posing this guy just started blowing his whistle until I removed myself. Oops.

This is how we made it up the cliffs in Santorini. Can you believe these jackasses?

Did I mention there was a garbage strike?

These are the coolest matching outfits ever. We really look fabulous don't we? SUPER GAY!!!!

When you gotta go.....go as a group.

Here we are at the Parthenon taking this awesome picture when some jerk walks right in front of the camera. Can you believe it?

This is me and Tia at Delhi. This rock is supposedly the center of the earth, or as you hillbilly's from Taylor might say "Belly Button, Earth".

This is Hanny. The kid behind her would latch onto you if you weren't careful. Here is checking out Mrs. Harris. He was actually a cool kid.

Sometimes you just gotta dance. This is in old town Rhodes.

Here we are at Delphi.

Tia also likes to jump in Delphi.

I don't really want to throw her into the donkey poop, it just looks that way. At the bottom of the cliffs in Santorini.

We can no longer clean a messy baby.

2008-03-05T17:55:00.005-07:00

Well it's official, we have no more puppies. Woohoo!! We have our living room back now. Stacy was a little sad to see them go. Coco seems to be indifferent. She looked around today for a minute after the last one left, but doesn't seem to mind so much.

In travel news, we are getting ready for our trip to Greece next week!!! What a blast we are going to have. Thank goodness our brother-in-law has such a great hook-up for us. We are traveling with about 40 kids from Hamilton High in Chandler. How much fun will that be? Tons.

These are my renditions of some pictures we will take in Greece. Here we are at the Parthenon.

Can you believe some jerk walked right in front of the camera? Some people.

We finally got him to move. Maybe we can talk him into a hair peice for the next picture.

Here we are waiting to get on our cruise liner for our awesome island hoping tour.

I hope this trip is as awesome in real life as it is in my head. (My head is really awesome)

If you know of anything you want from Greece just let us know. We won't get it for you, but we will see it and think of you (except you Russ, I'm bringing you back a Greco Roman).

We will update you when we get back. Peace out homies.

Who wants to lick a messy baby?

2008-02-24T21:30:00.001-07:00

These puppies do!
They are almost 6 wks old...if you know anyone that wants a super cute puppy let us know!

Are these big enough to be puppies?

2008-01-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

So about two years ago I bought Stacy a little dog. She was the cutest little dog, we named her Coco after Stacy's imaginary best friend growing up (1/2 yorkie + 1/2 shi-tzu= 1 shi-tzkie). She grew to be quite the good looking girl.

As time past we thought she could sure use a friend. So, a year later we convinced her parents to buy a shi-tzu. He, Bandit, was also a cute little dog. Emphasis on the "he".

Stacy and I got to keep Bandit with us for about 6 months while her parents finished a job down in Mexico. They quickly became the best of friends. They would play all day with each other and the big dog Daisey.

As time went on the two became very close. Soon enough Stacy's parents returned from Mexico and Bandit was sent away to live with them. It was lonely at first for Coco, but she did still have Daisey to play with. She had her visits to see Bandit on Sundays and the occassional weekday. Then, over Thanksgiving while Stacy and I were away (I am sure you have read the previous posts since we don't update our blog much), we left our beloved, pure, and innocent Coco with Stacy's parents....

When we returned I could see the innocence lost in her eyes. I don't know what they allowed to happen over that holiday weekend, but it couldn't have been pretty. Soon Coco was gaining weight and eating bannana, pickle and peanut butter sandwiches. Well on Sunday night, about 4 days earlier than we thought, Coco had two puppies.
Both boys.

More pictures!

2007-12-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

My sister posted some more pictures from our Amsterdam trip on her blog. Click here to go to her blog!

Thanksgiving in Amsterdam!

2007-12-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving this year was awesome! No mashed potatoes or cheeseball but I got to do my favorite thing...travel! Me and my sister Alisa (Hanny) went to Amsterdam for the weekend. Yes, Amsterdam! We went for an Explorica convention, the travel company my brother-in-law works for. It was a fast trip but we had such a great time! Justin went and visited Russ and Dana in Idaho, Dana was nice enough to put up with him and Russ together for 5 whole days (and that is no small thing!). Thank you both, Justin had a great time with your family! We have so many great pictures, it's going to be hard to narrow them down! Here are some favorites.

Walking around Amsterdam our first day, this is at the Dam. No flip flops here...it's cold!

I love this picture. It was so pretty there with all the canals and the canal houses were really cool. We got to take a canal cruise one night and see it all by boat.

They had the BEST fries in Amsterdam. They had whole restaurants that sold only fries. Check out the logo though...??? I don't know how that sells fries but apparently it does. The place was packed and all around you would see people walking with their cones of fries. Mmm, they were delicious. I think we had them with every meal.

At the flower market.

In front of the Anne Frank house. This was a highlight of our trip. We both read the book right before we came so it was fresh in our minds. It was amazing to see where everything happened and the small size of the rooms they had to live in for so long.

We got to go to a wooden shoe factory and see how they are made. We didn't see anyone but apparently alot of people still wear wooden shoes in the Netherlands. They were actually pretty comfortable!

What can I say, I like windmills! The countryside was beautiful!

At the cheese factory. Why does this cow look so worried?

We got to go to Volendam, a traditional fishing village outside of Amsterdam. It was so pretty!

So Thanksgiving this year was not traditional for us but we had so much fun! I can't wait for our next trip!

JDRF Walk

2007-11-06T18:31:00.001-07:00

Captian Deano's Crew

Captian Deano and Me

Justin, Me, and the Coco

We had another great time at the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes this year! We walk for my nephew Dean, he is such a tough kid. Thanks to Min and Eric for pulling it all together! Here are some pictures from the day.

Rocky Point 2007

2007-10-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. So I stink at blogging. In my defense though, I don't have access to internet all the time and since I've been really busy when I do have it I rarely want to (or am able to) log on. But I thought I would get on and show you are latest trip to Rocky Point. We had such a great time! All except the 4 hour wait to get back across the border. My family has been going to Rocky Point for about 20 years and we've always camped on the beach. Well, there is pretty much no more beach to camp on! So this year we stayed in a condo on the beach, Las Palomas. It was so awesome. The best parts were a nice running toilet and a shower that I didn't have to worry about getting some weird foot fungus if I accidentally touched the floor. And comfortable beds. And sleeping all night without 4 wheelers and rails screaming outside the tent. And showering whenever we wanted. And no sand in our food. And the pool when the waves or ocean got tiring. Ok so there were lots of good things! We had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back!

What? A new post?

2007-08-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

If you are still checking this blog then you are a true friend indeed! Its been awhile...I've been really busy with painting, especially the last couple weeks. We've been working 4 days a week. And yes, I know most people work 5 days every week but painting these doors is pretty hard work, especially when it's 110 out! On top of working a lot I decide I want to change our guest bathroom a little and right in the middle of that decide it would be a good time to redecorate our bedroom. And not just a little, everything, including re-texturizing the walls. I think I went crazy for a little bit. Despite the house being a complete wreck and nothing getting done it was pretty fun to actually decorate a room. I'll post some pictures when I get everything put back together!

Who Wants To Buy A Sand Rail?

2007-08-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

I am selling my sandrail and have had a few people want to see more pictures than I have posted in my ad. Here they are.

Roughin' it (kinda)

2007-07-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

We went camping last weekend with Katie & Donovan near Woods Canyon Lake. It was a nice break to get out of the valley for a few days and fun to be able to hang out with them. Even though they live in the valley too we hardly ever see each other!

We've come a long way since we first started camping together. On the way home we started talking about the first camping trip we took together to Roosevelt Lake...we slept in the back of the truck and all we packed to eat was a box of ding dongs, wheat thins and a cooler of soda and water. So healthy! So it's not as rough anymore but it takes so much more time and effort to pack!

Justin's rebuttal to: A great day in my marriage

2007-07-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

So's your face!

A great day in my marriage...

2007-07-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

First a little background for this story. Justin and I like to play a little game called "What was that noise?" Variations to this game are "The window game" and "Covered wagon". This is how it's played. Whenever one of us toots, the other person asks "What was that noise?" Hence the name. The offending person then makes up any crazy story to explain it away. For example. "What was that noise?" "I think theres a squirrel in the garage." I have never in our marriage tricked Justin into actually thinking that what I said was true. Well, this afternoon we were sitting on the couch together and I had his laptop on my lap. As you can guess I let one fly but Justin didn't say anything (usually he makes sure I know he heard). Here is how our conversation went.
Me: "Did you hear that noise?"
Justin: "No, What noise?"
Me: "Your computer just made a noise."
Justin: "Really?"
Me: "Yeah, and now it's starting to smell."
I really thought he would figure it out at this point but no...he proceeds to lean over real close and take a big whiff to see what's wrong with his computer. I couldn't believe my luck because not only did he try to smell it, but as I previously mentioned, the laptop was in fact on my lap. This may not be funny to anyone else but I thought I would document it on our blog since it is definitely a day to remember. Tia 1, Justin 0.

My cute new niece!

2007-06-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Isn't this so cute?! My brother is a photographer/designer and just started doing these baby annoucements for people. They are so awesome. This is of his newest little girl, Joslin. Of course I will be her favorite Aunt, she loves me the most already...I can tell. :)

Some fun pix from our Europe trip!

2007-06-23T19:04:00.001-07:00

In case you couldn't tell, Justin wrote the comments for these pictures.

I've got nothing to say.

2007-06-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mary Ann and Tiffany we just started the worlds boringest blog. I hope you're happy.