Birthday

Happy Late Birthday to me. I turned 29! I can’t believe it. . . this is the last year I have in my 20’s, so I’m vowing to make it worth it! Oddly enough, I’m not dreading the big 30. In fact, since I was about 23, it’s been really hard for me to remember how old I am. People ask and I have to stumble a little, guessing back and forth between a few ages and then finally saying, “I was born in this year, so I guess that makes me ___ now.” Sad that I can’t even remember how old I am anymore. For me, I think I reached age 23 and birthdays didn’t really matter anymore. It wasn’t like I had age 16, 18 or 21 to look forward to anymore. Birthdays all just started to blend together and they just aren’t a big deal anymore.

This year, I had a great time and was truly spoiled by my family. Almost everyone got together at my favorite place for dinner, Ocean City. What’s better than sharing your favorite food with those you love. My aunt, cousins, sister and her family, Jon and I all had a great time together. After dinner and gifts, we went to my Aunt’s house to chat for a while before Jon and I went out to the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Great Movie!

Speaking of gifts, I was totally spoiled this year. My Aunt’s and their families got me two tickets to Celine Dion. WOW! This is a sold out show and somehow they got tickets. I am so excited and a little annoyed that I have to wait clear until November to see her! They gave me a DVD and CD of her music and tour so I can become a little more familiar with her newer songs before I go to the concert. What a treat. I’ve only been to a couple of amphitheater concerts before, but nothing like Celine. Jon gave me a new seat for my bike so we can go riding more. My old seat killed me, so he got me a larger one with gel inserts so it’s now much more comfortable of a ride. :) He also got me some beautiful place mats and napkins like I’d been asking for and also the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles “The Field Guide” since we loved the movie so much! He did a great job finding things I really enjoyed. My mom outdid herself again by shopping with me for bathroom rugs, shower curtain, kitchen rugs, etc. She also gave me a year pass to Hogle Zoo which we love to visit on a regular basis, a hand wheat grinder to add to our food storage and some extra spending cash. I’m sorry to report that my mom wasn’t able to join us for the festivities this year. Teri gave me this great set of stripped place mats with coordinating napkins also. Everyone did such a great job in helping me to outfit my house with things more my style. :) My cousins gave me a gift certificate to Ztejas to use before the we go to the Celine concert. And Jon’s parent’s gave me a gift certificate to my favorite store. What a great birthday! I am surrounded by so many great people who love and care for me and spoil me on every occasion. Mostly, it was such an enjoyable day because I got to spend it with those I love! Thanks again to all of you for your generosity and kindness!

I’m setting new goals and keeping the big 30 in mind throughout the year as I enjoy these last moments of my 20s.

Inspirational Women

We were sitting around having lunch on May 4^th after the blessing of my newest niece Sydney when a comment was made that I guess I’ve never thought of or at least never put to words. Teri was talking to my cousin Gina about how our family has supported her in an effort to run a marathon for charity. I can second that! My family has been such a support to me over the years, more than I can possibly describe. I am so grateful for the love and support my family offers me. . . especially for these four women who have truly been an inspiration to me!

My Mom: My mom is an amazing woman who raised two independent, strong, intelligent daughters. She taught my sister and I the value of hard work at a young age, yet also made sure we found the time to play and have fun. My mom was always honest and upfront in all her dealings. She taught us to have values, morals, principals and to respect others for their differences. I use to think I knew it all and that my mom didn’t understand or have a clue. . . but when I moved out on my own, I quickly gained a deep, permanent respect for my mom and all that she did for me. She always knew more than I gave her credit for and I can never possibly thank her enough for the values she instilled in me. She taught me to stand on my own two feet, to be independently strong and steadfast, characteristics I hope to one day instill in my own children.

My Aunt Karla: I lived with my Aunt Karla and her family after I finished my Associate’s Degree at Rick’s college and didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. She gratefully took me under her wing as I tried to figure out which direction I was headed. She was the one who pointed out to me that I am a huge fretter and like to fret about things in advance. J She always said, “You’re borrowing jacks!” I can’t quite remember the story behind that but generally speaking, it means, I’m fretting about the things of tomorrow that I have no control over and that don’t matter. She stepped in as my second mom when I sat at her table, crying, confused about life, school, work, etc. Karla is also a strong, independent woman, who helped me put things into perspective when I needed it most.

My Aunt Beezer: Arlene, otherwise known as Beezer, has also loved and cared for me as if I were her own daughter. When I made the decision to not continue with my education, she was the one who continued to have conversations with me about the importance of education. I remember thinking that getting a bachelors degree was going to take way too long and I felt like I had other things I wanted to do with my life besides school. Beezer helped me to realize that the time in school would pass quickly and I would never look back with regret on those years. J Those heart-felt conversations about my future really did have an impact on me and needless to say, she is one of the main reasons I continued with my education, on to get a master’s degree. She is the one who calls me to offer suggestions for our blog, decorating our nursery and anything to offer advice in the hopes that we’ll get a child sooner. I swear she’s the person most excited for us to get a baby.

These three women are sisters that have bonded together and share this amazing friendship that I hope to have with my sister. They love, support and help each other and the other’s children no matter what. They are all strong-willed, independent, beautiful women that I aspire to becoming like as I get older.

Last but not least, my sister Teri: We had our fare share of fights when we were younger. . . if fact I may go as far as to say that we hated each other some days. However, in the past ten years, we’ve grown closer and I’ve come to admire Teri and all that she is as a woman, a sister, a friend and a mother. She has three beautiful children that I love more than I thought I could love anything and I’m so grateful that they live so close so I can be a part of the girl’s lives. She isn’t perfect, but she is a wonderful mother, teaching her children with love and logic. Her patience, love and ability to discipline the children in a positive manner is amazing. I don’t know if she’s aware of how much I watch her and take note of how she handles her children, for one day, I hope that I can be the same kind of mother to my children. Talent pours from her in every aspect. She’s an amazing pianist, artist, vocalist, and is extremely intelligent. Everything she attempts to do she succeeds at, with seemingly little or no effort. Teri has honestly become my very best friend. She listens to me cry, whine, laugh, smile and she’s always there to listen and be my friend. I think that she and I are well on our way to establishing a long lasting friendship like my mom and aunts have.

I can’t even begin to describe my appreciation to these four phenomenal women. They are my inspiration and my light! They have been there to support me through my good and bad decisions, through my ups and downs, through the trials and triumphs. They rally behind me in everything I attempt to do and stand in the sidelines cheering me on full-heartedly. I love them dearly and hope they know how much I love, appreciate and cherish their love, friendship and support.

Camping

Despite all my fretting about the house and all the projects we needed to get done, Jon talked me into going camping with some of our friends last weekend. It was a 4 day excursion to Vernon Lake out somewhere south of Tooele. I'm not familiar with the area, so I can't exactly tell you where it's at, but it's this beautiful, small lake out in the middle of now where. We left on Thursday and came home dirty, tired and sun burnt on Sunday. :) Thanks to Mark for house-sitting and babysitting Chico while we were gone despite the torn apart house. Chico was definitely jealous when we got home cause our friends brought their 3 dogs with them, but we felt it was best to leave Chico home this time.

We had a great time. We spent a lot of time fishing, four-wheeling, playing games and eating. The bad part was that it was cold, windy and totally dusty the entire time we were there. Thank goodness the friends we went with had a trailer, so we were able to stay out of the wind and spent a lot of time playing some great games, Ticket to Ride (one of our favorites) and Settlers of Catan (a new found favorite).

There wasn't much flat ground in the camp site we chose, so Jon and I did our best to pitch our tent on the most flat spot we could find. Needless to say, it wasn't flat enough, so that first night, we kept having to wake up, get out of bed and pull the sleeping bag to the top of the air mattress. . .we, along with the sleeping bag kept sliding off the end of the mattress. Speaking of mattresses, ours must have a slow leak in it somewhere, because each night we'd end up sandwiched in the middle, almost on top of each other. The second day we finally had to move our tent to almost to the road for a flat spot.

Our friends also introduced us to another game we've really love. . . don't know what it's called, but you throw rubber tennis balls on strings at the goal and you get points for which bar you can hit. It really is a lot of fun.

Here are some more pictures of the fun weekend! As you can tell, I had the camera most the time, so there's lots of pics of Jon. Next time, we'd like to go some where it's a little less dusty and windy.

When It Rains It Pours!

Oh boy, it's been one of those weeks. So you've seen in the previous posting, we flooded our basement. Well, three days later, I am ready to go to work at 4 a.m., I go downstairs and land in another lake of water at the bottom of the stairs. My first thought was that Jon's plumbing from the earlier flood didn't hold. I holler for Jon to come quick and I begin looking for the source of the water. To my dismay, the water isn't coming from the faucet they fixed just days earlier, instead it is coming from the ceiling in the laundry room.

This time, the hose that feeds water to the ice machine came loose from the refrigerator and leaked water all over the kitchen floor which leaked through the hardwood floors, into the basement ceiling in the laundry room and bedroom, down the walls, and out into the garage. What a mess. Once again we had to call the clean-up crew to come out and tear up the carpet, rip out the sheet rock and place the fans to dry out the water. So now 3/4th of our basement is without sheet rock and the downstairs is in total shambles.












We're now in the process of getting estimates for the repair so we can start the repair work. Looks like it will be a least a month or two before the repairs can be done. I guess the bright side of the story is that we're going to pay a little extra to have some additional stuff done so that we can then be finished with the basement and have it just the way we want it. Also, because of the damage done to the hardwood kitchen floors, we are getting the kitchen floors redone too! It's been hard to see the rainbow through the rain this week, but we're trying to find the bright side of things!