10 Years and going strong!

Brian and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last weekend with a trip to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. My sister was so generous to keep my children for 4 days. Living far away from family for so long Brian and I never get to do this, so it was so great! We didn't do anything extravagant, but just enjoyed being able to spend time together. I loved Yellowstone. It was so beautiful and we enjoyed animal spotting. Yet when I got home I realized I didn't shoot one picture of any animals-oh well. We also got upgraded to a condo, don't know how or why, but it was fabulous. Besides the green granite in the kitchen it was as if I had designed and decorated it myself. It was so rustic and warm. Anyway I love you B and am so happy to spend my life with you!

Living in Utah

I guess it's been a while again. I'd really like to blog at least once a week and just haven't got to it. Adjusting to a new place can be hard on one's spirit. There are some things about UT that I love and then there are things that are just strange-or different and then there are things that I hate.
When I first got here I loved all the tulips! They were just blooming everywhere and so beautiful. I vowed that once I have my own house I will definately be planting tulip bulbs. I also love the mountains, they are so amazing and gorgeous and I use to think the Hualapais were sufficient and know now that I was just tricking myself.
There are things that just catch my eye or strike me as strange or maybe just different than where I've lived before. This is not intended to offend anyone so please just look at my thoughts as another perspective. The first thing I noticed was a whole other section in Wal-Mart. It took me a minute to put it all together but it's for food storage. There was even a man giving samples of milk, I thought it was an odd place until he showed me that it was powdered milk. Oh, I guess I thought you only used it in baking, I didn't know you actually drink it. (And maybe now you just think I'm dumb). Even more so Food Storage is a huge topic of conversation here. Yes I know I am in UT, but I bet every person I've met has brought it up in one way or another-well excluding the folks at my gym. Most interesting to me was the infomercial on freeze dried foods that will last up to 100 years and you never have to rotate your food storage. I guess if you're like me and not a Mormon you might feel as if some of this is all a foreign language too.
Another observation, no coffee shops. Sometimes a girl just really needs a good cup of jo-I finally found a Starbucks in Barnes and Noble. Yeah. I went with a friend to a Women's Conference at BYU. Did you know there is no caffeine on the entire campus? I would have paid $5 for Pepsi that day! Ha! Ha! Know that I am not critizing in anyway, just observing.
I remember when I first moved to AZ all the changes, the rock yards, the snowmen next to cactus at Christmas, or even the "snowman" made out of tumble weeds. I had to write them all down before they became my "norm". So I know that eventually "Food Storage" infomercials and mall being closed on Sunday will all be normal too.
Finally for the "I Hates". I hate that no one is concerened with time. If they say it starts at 6:30 it could be 6:45 or 7:00. The bus is supposed to come at Noon, sometimes it doesn't show up until 12:40. But then you get into traffic and everyone is in the biggest hurry to get where? I'm not sure because it doesn't matter if you're on time. And the biggest thing I hate is so many kids without carseats or booster seats or even wearing a seatbelt. Now I know I am making judgements about this, but it's safety and kids don't know better. Come on people!

Spring = Snow?

Things really weren't going my way. We had this crazy snow storm and one of the rooms in our basement apartment had flooded. The worst part about it is that it's the room that I was storing all of the boxes in. On top of that I had come down with a crummy cold and wasn't feeling well. I had to hustle though and get all my boxes moved or unpacked to avoid the water. So if that wasn't enough I wake up the next morning with a tree branch on top of my car. I didn't really want to cry so I just shrugged my shoulders and was grateful it didn't break the sunroof. At first all I could vision was melted snow flooding the inside of my car. So here's a few pictures of my "welcome" to Utah.

Easter

Easter is probably my favorite holiday. I just love knowing that Christ died so that I could be saved, so that I can have eternal life. What could be a better celebration than the resurection of our Lord? But honestly Easter was a little more challenging to me this year. I didn't really have a plan past unpacking, we hadn't even been here a week. I wasn't really into the other "stuff" either. But for my kids I went out and got dye and dropped 3 dozen eggs in Wal-Mart. Funny thing is that morning I had commented to B about how nice people are in Utah. Everyone is just really kind and considerate. Then I dropped 3 dozen eggs in line at Wal-Mart. I asked for paper towels and cleaned it all up, still my checker despised me. It was such a bummer, but I guess there's always an exception. So we went back the next day and got new eggs and had fun coloring them. We also went to the Orem City Easter Egg Hunt. Someone forgot to mention to me that you wear Winter Parkas to Easter Egg Hunts here. I know I grew up in Wyoming, but I've been raising children in Arizona for over 5 years. I have a few lessons to learn. Both Tynli and I froze because we were wearing sandals, it was 42 degrees and it was pouring rain. Not so much fun! Easter Sunday wasn't much warmer, but it was a great day to attend our new church. It is St. Francis of Assisi and so far we like it. Hope everyone else had a fantastic Easter too!

Tynli turns 6!

I can't hardly believe it, where has the time gone, but here she is a big six years old now! Wow! She decided on a carnival themed party and my friend Jacqui made the cake for us. It was so cool-it it had a spin to it! We had fun games, prizes, popcorn, cotton candy and Jacqui the master face painter. As stressed as I was trying to move and host a party I think it was sucessful. The wind made it chilly and we didn't get to decorate much, but other than that no complaints.

Krazy 8

I have still been logging my mile a day, but other than that have been focussing on weight training with my personal trainer. But along comes the Krazy 8 race, which is an 8K-or just a tiny, tad bit under 5 miles. Why oh why I decide to run races is beyond me. This one was fun, but definitely KRAZY! It had several hills, one called the "Biggest Loser Hill", was mostly all on dirt trails and even got right up next to the railroad tracks. So I practiced it a few times to make sure I could do it, and signed up. I got my cute little t-shirt and ran my heart out. I also was packing to move, and throwing a birthday party in the same day. No I didn't win any medals, and this is probably my only race this year, but I did it and will definitely never forget it.

I'm Back!

Okay, so I've been delinquent from my blog. Let me explain. We had an icident in February where many things were taken from us by some thieves. One of which included my camera. So I wasn't much in the mood to blog without picutures. And yes I realize this post will not have a picture, but just you wait, because I've got some great ones coming up.
Meanwhile we have moved! We now live in Orem, UT. Still patiently waiting for our home to sell. Hopefully soon!!!
Now that I have a camera I'll update you all on our last few weeks. Or if no one reads our blog, at least I'll have it documented for when I get to these pages in my scrapbook.

Transportation Parade

Tynli's class studied transportation this January. The grand finale was a transportation parade. Each Kindergarten student had to make a mode of transportation out of cardboard. After convincing her that she shouldn't make a Tinkerbell Jeep just because her friend was, we agreed on a hot air balloon. There were two other girls that were hot air balloons as well, and maybe I'm biast, but Tynli really was the best!

Hanukkah

Well Hanukkah was a while ago, it actually fell during Christmas week this past year. But I just had to write about it because it has brought such joy to our family the past few years. One of my best friends here in Kingman is Jewish, so last year she held a Hanukkah party for a small group of our friends. We lit the Menorah, ate delicious food and played Dreidal. This holiday season she has an adorable new addition to her family and I'm not sure if she was planning on having the party again. With all of us asking when the Hanukkah party was going to be how could she tell us no? Again we had a fabulous time and the food was beyond yummy! But most of all the adorable baby boy kept us all smiling. One thing I've learned is that we may all have different beliefs, but something about them all that is shared is love. Our friendships gathered us all and our children together to celebrate the love we share with one another and for that I am truly grateful.

One day, one mile, one run at a time

Okay, so I know I probably made it sound like no big deal, just a mile a day for 365 consecutive days. Easy right? WRONG. It's not the actual running part that is troubling me. The week days are easy I just fit it into my regular workout. It's when my day is altered. Like last Thursday I went on a Field trip with Tynli. When I got home Porter fell asleep. Then Tynli got home from school and fell asleep. If Brian where here none of this would be complicated. I really feel for single moms. This has got to be the hardest phase of parenthood for me-doing it alone. I have great friends who are willing to help, but it's hard to ask and I don't want to abuse any of my friendships. I am grateful for one friend especially who won't let me quit. So whatever the obstacle, I've hurdled them and here I am day 14 and my mile a day is logged thus far. So if you joined in, just know I'm staying committed-you can too!

A Mile a Day for 365 days!

There's a group somewhere that started this, I don't really know many details, but I'm usually up for anything. So we all gathered on New Year's Day at 11:15 am and ran our first mile together. The rules are simple-you run at least one mile every day for 365 consecutive days. It can be ran either on land or treadmill-but no other types of machines. It's January 5-so I only have 360 miles to go. If any one wants to start you can-join me! You don't have to wait until Jan 1, 2010, just start tomorrow and your finish date will be next Jan. I'll post my progress and let you know how it's going.

Wreath Party cont.

These are just pictures of the evening, but I wanted to show what a great time we had.

Wreath Party

This was the first year I have done this, but it was a lot of fun. One of my friend's and I hosted in my home. We invited about 10 ladies to enjoy food, fun and make a wreath. They were simple but really cute and we had a great time. We ate chilli, and cookies as well as drank Cranberry Magaritas and Sangria. It was so nice to have a "Mommy". We are always attending our husband's company party, or parties for the kids. This was just for us and I hope to do it again next year-albeit in Utah.

Santa Party

I know here's more pictures with Santa, but the reason I share these is because it is so much fun and maybe some of you want to throw a Santa party for your friends. My good friend Melissa's children host the annual Cookies with Santa party each year. She invites as many people as she can fit into her home. The invitation includes a story book, this year was "The Night Before Christmas". She has a wide variety of cookies and crafts and lets the kids just play. Then once the antcipation escalates there's a knock on the door. It's the big man in red himself. He greets the kids (after several years he even remembers some of their names, at the least he recognizes thier little faces). Then he reads the story book and calls them one by one to sit on his lap. It is so nice because they do not have the mall line wait and Santa takes as long as the child needs to visit with them. He sends them off with a small gift and calls the next child. I am so grateful that this family has given us this gift of fun and tradition every holiday season. It is something that does truly make me sad that we won't be in Kingman next year. So I'm going to search for a way to get Santa to come to my home and maybe we can host our own Santa party in Utah next year!