Top Ten

These pictures have nothing to do with my ramblings, I just thought I would put them on cuz they are cute! As we are getting ready to head back to Oregon, I have been thinking, and I have come up with a top ten list of what I have learned these past 6 months.

10. Moving stinks. Especially every 3 months. You get everything unpacked and then a month later, you pack it up again!
9. We couldn't have done this without family who loves us. My Dad and Mom both let us live with them and invade their space and make messes! And Brad's parents helped us move multiple times!
8. The church is the same everywhere (well, maybe not Utah County! :)--) and it is nice to have that network!
7. Kids are troopers. Even when they are bored out of their mind and there is no cable, and no friends to play with.
6. Utah is colder in the spring than in the winter. It snowed April 30.
5. Queen size beds are way to small. Oh how we miss our California King!
4. Just when you are feeling like you know what's going on in your life, things change.
3. Oregon needs more restaurants! There are so many yummy places to eat in AZ and UT!
2. I do have willpower.
1. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

The past few weeks..................

Hayley turned 5! She was so excited for her birthday. We celebrated it at Chuck E. Cheese's and she had her cousins and 2 friends come. She had so much fun except for whenever Chuck E Cheese would come out. I don't blame her, he is kind of scary looking!

She wanted a "Barbie" party, so here is the table that was decorated by Danyel! Thank you!
I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she wanted a rainbow cake with all of these random things on it. So this is the best I could come up with. It turned out better than I thought it would!
For Christmas, I had given Brad a hot air balloon ride, so after 3 rescheduled attempts due to weather, we finally were able to go!





They lay it out. It looks so big on the ground!



Then they blow it up with fans and then start heating the air.

Then we all got in (Brad and I and 6 other strangers).






The view was awesome! It didn't even feel like we were moving. It was a lot of fun!
Here is one of the reasons I love the Arizonan desert. The sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice.

When it came time to land, we were going to land on these big rocks. We hit the ground with a thud, came off the ground, hit again and then our pilot says, "Ok, everybody in landing position". Brad and I were like, "What is landing position" The next thing I hear the pilot say is that we are going to tip over and a second later we were like this:


Needless to say it was quite the adventure! After we climbed out, they served us some mini appetizers and Brad and I, Sparkling cider (everyone else had wine). We got to enjoy the beauty of the desert and then go home!

We are busy now getting ready to move to Utah in a few days! Hopefully I'll post more soon!

Merry Christmas!

So we have been in Arizona for a little over a month and the time has flown by! We are enjoying the nice, beautiful weather here! Brad really likes his rotation at Luke AFB, but he despises his 100 mile commute everyday! The girls and I have been busy with holiday stuff going on so it hasn't really hit much that we are here. It feels like we are on vacation still! We have been decorating for Christmas, watching Christmas movies, looking at Christmas lights, eating Christmas goodies and we can't wait for Christmas next week! We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am slacking again this year on the Christmas Cards, so consider this your card! Maybe next year, when we aren't living out of suitcases, I'll get around to it!

Good Bye, Oregon

Well, the time's come for us to leave our rainy home. Yes, I say home, because that's what it has become for us. In the past 3 and a half years we've lived in OR, we've had a lot of experiences. Some good, some bad, most of them good. I've now been away for only 2 days, and yes, I already miss it up there. There are things I won't miss, like the soaking 6 month-long rain, Oregon drivers (please, just drive the speed limit, you won't die), the astronomically high property taxes, and the fact that I can't just put my own gas in my own car. But, there are things that I will miss, like Tilamook ice cream, the beautiful trees, actual seasons, the many things for my kids to do, the strength of the Church, our wonderful ward, and most of all, our friends. To all of you who extended the hand of fellowship when we first moved in, thank you. To the friends we've made over the past few years, thank you. I never could have hoped for better friends, I will miss you all terribly.

Sorry for being so mushy, but I felt I needed to say good-bye and thank you, to all of you, for your support and your friendship. I hope it won't end.

Brad

It's worth the drive

Yes, we really drove an hour and a half, one way, just for the pumpkin ice cream! I was thinking of you Chelsie as I was savoring the pumpkin yumminess! Maybe someday they will start selling it in the store!

What's been going on.........

So back in August, we went camping with our ward and we had a great time! This is 1 of 3 pictures I took the whole time we were there! Oops! The tent was awesome! It was huge! Much better then our 2 man tent we got after we were first married that only fit our air mattress inside!

After the campout I made chili sauce out of 50 pounds of tomatoes. Brad's family LOVES chili sauce. They eat it on Roast Beef and Meatloaf. I've tried it and it tastes yummy, but so does eating them with ketchup, which to Brad is a sin! I thought since I got a good price on tomatoes, I would try making the man I love his beloved chili sauce. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Luckily, Brad's mom walked me through the process and and after many phone calls throughout the day, I did it!

Here is the finished product! And if that wasn't enough, after all day in the kitchen making chili sauce, I spent all night making apricot jam. NEVER AGAIN! :)


A few weeks later, I was running with my friend, Kim, and apparently I can't talk and run at the same time because one minute I am running and the next minute I am on the ground turned 180 degrees holding my ankle. Isn't it pretty?

After having an X-ray done at Urgent care, it came back with a questionable break, so they had to have a radiologist read it. They couldn't let me leave with it possibly broken, so they outfitted me with a lovely soft cast! Luckily, it wasn't broken and I only had to wear that for a couple of days!


I just had to show off Kenzie's teeth!





And for Jayna, these are my Love Bugs:

THE END!

Kenzie is walking!

So she isn't a pro yet, but she has been walking around so much the past few days! She'll take like 20-30 steps and then fall down and walk on her knees. Her knees are still her preferred method of travel! So here is a quick video!


By the way, now that I am a private blog, I can freely use my kids names, so in case you didn't know, Hayley is peanut and Kenzie is monkey!