Pictures from the 4th of July

No one seems to be in the mood for blogging. Well, okay that's maybe a little extreme to say NO ONE- I've seen a handful of new blogs the last little while. But I challenge you all to post something new... what's up? How's life? Anything new or exciting happening? Or just nothing at all? Ready, set, WRITE!

It's a Girl!

Born May 11, 2007. We brought her home Saturday. We named her Ally, short for Alison! She's a Lhasa Apso and is a little sweetie... so far!

I guess I better get to writin' about the trip!

Our trip to Southern California and Arizona June 16th-24th! Bullet point style! (Forgive me for the length, remember- this is a journal for us! If you want, skip down to the bottom for the slide show!)

• Flew from Atlanta and landed at LAX in the a.m. where we met up with our friend Travis who flew from Phoenix to go to Six Flags with us.


• Spent most of the evening riding Goliath, Batman, The Riddler, Ninja, the Viper twice and eating Dipin' Dots which are my favorite. The Riddler's line was FOREVER long (and there was a teenage girl that needed more clothes on and an attitude change that drove us nuts), but the rest of them were reasonable. Except for I just remembered Batman's line... I tried to block it out of my memory. It wasn't a long line, but it takes you through the building before it takes you upstairs to where you load onto the ride. The air conditioning wasn't on and it was fairly hot, I'm claustrophobic and mister teenager behind us kept getting in our personal space with some BAD B.O.! ARG! I had a bit of a panic attack... I'm okay now. Don't worry.


• Travis stayed with us at the ghetto Days Inn and we took him back to the airport the next morning. We made a pit stop at the LA Memorial Cemetery because we saw it off the freeway and it looked really cool. Took some pictures and then Ryan and I drove about 3 or more hours to Sequoia National Park. It's closest to Bakersfield, and is the place where all the BIG BIG trees are- ya, you know which ones I'm talking about!


• Spent the night in Three Rivers, just south of the canyon there. Then the next day was Ryan's 26th Birthday! Unfortunately, I doubt it was the funnest birthday for him ever, because we drove A LOT. But we left for the coast that morning after he had a waffle breakfast at the hotel and even made a stop at the famous IN-N-OUT Burger for lunch. We made a detour to Whittier, CA to Rose Hills Memorial Park where we went to see my oldest brother Brian's grave. I haven't been there for about 15 years and thought it would be good for Ryan to be apart of that as well. From there we drove to Cardiff By The Sea, CA which is just north of San Diego. We were sort of bummed that our hotel was not in fact "by the sea"... but it was nice enough. We went to dinner and drove along the beautiful coast for Ryan's first time seeing the Pacific Ocean! It was chilly though, so we didn't swim.


• Tuesday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the Original Pancake House and then went to the beach for a couple of hours. It was really too cold to hang out for too long, the water was cold and the air was cold and it was windy. But we had fun amidst all the seaweed there. I taught Ryan how to pop the little seaweed ball things... hard to explain- but some of you might know what I'm talking about! We even got a little sunburned too.


• We also got to go to see the San Diego Temple, which is one of my favorites. We walked around there for a little while. And then later after the beach went to Old Town in San Diego and visited the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center (coincidence that the Ensign is about that this month? Weird...). We kind of got lost, or should I say took a tour of downtown San Diego. And then ended up ordering pizza, watching a movie and just chilling out in our hotel room! It was actually quite relaxing!


• Wednesday- we headed to Phoenix... and ew, what a yucky and boring and hot drive. Yikes. I really have nothing more to say about that. We got to Delinda's house and met up with Travis again and our friend Shannon (Henry) Lista and her new husband we hadn't met yet, Diego! It was great to see her! I had freakin' yummy fish tacos at Rubio's... a beautiful, wonderful thing!


• The next morning, we woke up fairly early and stopped in Flagstaff on our way to The Grand Canyon to have lunch with Anne and Brian Wallace, some old family friends. It was so great to see them! They even offered for us to stay at their house (for free) when we came back to Flagstaff!


• After arriving in Grand Canyon Village and finding John, Clau and the kids and checking into the hotel- we headed off to see the sights! It was so much fun to be there with them, and even better because this was the first time Ryan ever met them! After hanging out at the Canyon and getting pizza, we spent the night swimming and getting ice cream together and had lots of fun laughing and joking around. (I wont mention the sleepless night we had due to someones big brother snoring...)


• After a pillow fight, taking our time getting ready and a yummy hotel breakfast in the morning- we ventured back out to the big hole in the ground. It really is such a beautiful site to see and so wondrous to me! (That rhymed!) We got pretty HOT out there, so we decided to head to Flagstaff where I grew up. John and his family weren't planning on going, but decided last minute to go. Missy (my niece) decided she wanted to ride with us. There was only one condition... that she roll down the window if she made a stinky! Every once in a while all we'd hear from the back was the window going down for a second, then back up... she was very discreet... sort of!


• We ate lunch together in Flagstaff and then parted ways so we each could explore and see things that reminded us of the good ol' days. I took Ryan first to go see our old house, my parents moved out of 9 years ago. It's changed a lot and it made me cry to realize how much I missed and loved that house. It doesn't look the same which bothers me a bit- but the memories I hold for it mean a lot to me. We drove around a lot that night; went to the San Fransisco Peaks and a brief tour of the city and then took our stuff to Anne and Brian's house (they were off camping for the weekend). We got ready and went to The Museum Club where some people that couldn't go to the High School Reunion were meeting up. I was a tad bit nervous before hand and when we got there it was really quite surreal to see all these people I grew up with all grown up, but pretty much looking (and some acting) the same! I guess I do too when it comes down to it! Anyway... it was fun. Just kind of weird!


• Saturday we decided to stick around town because quite frankly we were SICK of driving so much and went and saw some cool sites there in the Flagstaff area. We went to Sunset Crater, and then drove to the historic downtown area and walked around in my favorite stores that I used to frequent, and ate lunch at good ol' Alpine Pizza. It's good pizza and it was nice to sit out on the porch and watch people walk by. When we finished eating we walked down to Wheeler Park, across the street from where my dad used to work. We made a couple of phone calls, listened to the trains go by, and enjoyed the shade and the nice breeze there. After we were done with downtown we went to see if we could go into Lowell Observatory- but didn't feel like paying $10 just to go in the visitor center and not even look through the telescope! Lowell Observatory is where Pluto was discovered!


• After getting back to Anne's house we took a nap and then got spruced up (in jeans of course) for the Sinagua-Coconino-Flag High 10 Year Class of 97' High School Reunion! Yowza I feel like an old lady! (I attended Sinagua.) It was at a nice hotel and the best part of it all was seeing Melanie (Stow) Hagen, Hans Hony, Sara Shelton and a few other good friends from the past! We laughed and talked and caught up and ate and had fun. Ryan and I left a little early and drove down to Phoenix to stay at Delinda's again. We woke up and took our rental car to the airport (after having put over 2,000 miles on it) and then went to lunch with her before she took us back to the airport to catch our flight home! Lucky for me... I got fish tacos again at Rubio's! YUM! I wish they had those here... anyone want to open one up?

It was SUCH a fun trip! And as you can tell, JAMMED PACKED! This week has been a struggle with getting back to work and everything... we need recovery time for our vacation! As much as I love it over there in the West- I really am starting to become partial to the greenness here! And it was nice to be back home, in our house and our bed!

Here's a slide show of the trip: WARNING! It's sort of long...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sometimes I wonder about myself...

I could have permanently tattooed myself yesterday... imagine this:

Staff Meeting.

Bubble Gum bag not easy to open.

Precise V5 Rolling Pilot Pen (used as an opening devise).

My fingers holding the bag.

Missing the bag, but not my fingers.

Thinking to myself "that didn't feel like the bag the pen just went into..."

Ouch.

I have just discovered a really YUMMY new snack... and it helps that's it's only 100 calories and will prevent me from getting any FATTER. :)

Back to work... and let me tell you how excited I am to hear the sweet dulcet tones (do you sense a bit of sarcasm?) of the ANNOYING & LOUD Spanish lady that sits on the other side of me.

On a side note, this is what I feel like I am doing today... I need a recovery period from all that driving and travelling! Pictures to come soon!

Happy Birthday Ryan! And Hello from Cali!

We made it! We're going on day 4 tomorrow... my birthday boy is asleep next to me! I hope he had a good day today... he said he did, so I sure hope so!

So far we've made it to Six Flags, Sequoia National Park and now here in the San Diego area to enjoy a couple nights close to the beach! We're having fun! We've seen so many beautiful places! I really love it here!

I know I don't look happy, but I didn't know the picture was being taken!

General Sherman tree! HUGE!

Happy Birthday Babe!

And we're off!

So tomorrow, as nervous as it makes Ryan, we're flying to Southern California to start a fun trip! The whole purpose of this trip was to make it out to my 10 year High School reunion in Flagstaff, AZ (which is where we'll end up towards the end), so we are making a trip out of it since Ryan's never really been out West besides Utah.
We're going to Six Flags-Magic Mountain tomorrow with Travis Green as soon as we get off the plane and check in at the hotel. And through the span of the trip we're also going to Sequoia National Park and hopefully drive through some HUGE Redwood trees! We're going to go along the coastline of So. Cal starting at Laguna Beach and ending in San Diego for a couple of nights. Then on to Phoenix, AZ to visit with my sister and some friends, then to the Grand Canyon to meet up with my bro John and his family (whom Ryan has not yet met). After that, we'll go back down to Flagstaff and spend the night and go to the reunion, which should be interesting. The next day we'll fly back home!
Jam packed but I am SO excited! Should be lots of fun and we'll take lots of pictures... I'm sure you'll be looking forward to them! So needless to say- depending on how much time we have and if there's internet, I might not blog much this next week or so. But don't fret... I'll be back! Peace!

What's On Your List?

I've decided to create a sort of "survey" as it were about music. I'll have listed some of my favorite bands, favorite songs, and favorite albums. And maybe some misc. items like favorite funny song or favorite new song... or something. It's taken me a long time to come up with this list...it's been hard to narrow down.
These however are in no particular order for me. I find it hard to have just ONE favorite since there are so many talented musicians out there. So even though I've made this list... it doesn't mean it's the bottom line for me. I could really have larger lists, but I've decided to limit myself. Maybe I'll come back to it another time and do an addendum to it or something!
If you want to, I'd be interested in what you'd fill in the blanks with. Go ahead and copy this and put it in your blog so I can see your list! You might even have some that I forgot to put on mine!

Top Ten Favorite Bands/Artists:

1. Alison Krauss and Union Station


2. Paul Simon


3. Imogen Heap


4. The Police


5. Jack Johnson


6. Beck


7. Kate Bush


8. Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians


9. The Cure


10. Feist

*Honorable Mentions: Indigo Girls, Bjork, Cake, Yes, Dave Matthews Band

Top Ten Favorite Songs:

1. Clocks-Coldplay


2. Rodeo Clowns- Jack Johnson and G. Love


3. Crazy Love, Vol. II-Paul Simon


4. Baby's Got Sauce- G. Love and Special Sauce


5. It Don't Matter Now- Alison Krauss and the Union Station


6. Can't Take It In-Imogen Heap


7. Going the Distance-Cake


8. Gravity Rides Everything-Modest Mouse


9. Love Like We Do- Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians


10. Mushaboom- Feist

Top Ten (okay 11) Favorite Albums:

1. Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars-Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians


2. A Rush of Blood to the Head- Coldplay



3. Graceland-Paul Simon



4. Zenyattà Mondatta- The Police



5. Under the Table and Dreaming-Dave Matthews Band



6. Forget About It- Alison Krauss &Union Station



7. On and On-Jack Johnson



8. Continuum-John Mayer



9. Singles- The Smiths



10. Give Up- The Postal Service


11. Speak for Yourself- Imogen Heap

Random Songs that Deem Mentioning:

• Bouncing Off Clouds- Tori Amos (new song, often repeated)
• Nellie the Elephant- Toy Dolls (funny and cute song)
• You Part the Waters- Cake (just because it's silly... you don't even play piano)
• Oh Atlanta!-Alison Krauss (oh the memories...)
• Suspended in Gaffa-Kate Bush (why? because it reminds me of Delinda...)
• Everyday People-Arrested Development (I just like it!)
• Shh-Imogen Heap (another favorite... but since she was on the list already I felt like I couldn't put her twice!)

(Man I feel like I'm leaving so much out... I have to draw the line somewhere though!)

Let's Hear it for the Hooch!

We've already spent a couple of Saturdays this summer playing way down yonder on the Chattahoochee or "The Hooch" as we refer to it. We've gone swimming and some have jumped off cliffs, and we went tubing a couple weekends ago! Boy it was COLD, but SO fun! Here's some picts! (We've got Andrea, Ashley, Clint, Michael and Lori, Stephanie and me and Ryan. Jennifer was with us too- but I don't think any of the pictures show her.) ****UPDATE! It seems we have a problem! Read here! Funny thing, that's where we went tubing and swimming!****

Go Ryan!

Andrea and Ashley

Ashley wasn't exactly happy about these ADORABLE little baby ducks that decided to hang out with us for a while. They were literally that close for about ten minutes- even with their mom standing by watching!

Poor Clint was doing his best to stay out of the FREEZING water!

Our butts were pretty much numb by the time we got out!

Isn't he so hot? RAR!

Happy Blog Anniversary!

So, this month I'm celebrating being a blogger for two years. I haven't been on this site the whole time, but I started out here.
It's pretty exciting, because like many of you- it's sort of become a journal for me. I've been able to copy and paste some of the entries I made into a word document for me to put in my journal- which is so much better than hand writing it! Especially since I never kept up with my real journal for those few months. Anyway... I'll stop going on, but I hope that I can keep this up too! It's actually a fun outlet for me, so I think I will! Cheers!

Thought these were cool

It's all tape! More HERE!

Story Time!

So a lot of people have wondered how I got to Atlanta. It's a good question really. I'll explain a somewhat short (okay not really) version of it and then tell you why I've come to really love it here.
I'd been living in Orem, UT in the same house as Elder Bruce Hafen. We called it "The FOF" (Fortress of Femininity) and I lived with great girls and in a good ward. Had a good job and a WONDERFUL, AWESOME group of friends to play with and hang out with constantly. But after living in Utah for 7 years and feeling sort of "stagnant", I had started to think it was time for a change. San Diego sounded good because I really like it there- but was too expensive. I like Portland, OR but couldn't find any good job opportunities up there. I'd kind of given up on the idea of going anywhere, but prayed that if it was the right thing to do- that a new opportunity would find me. As much as I loved UT and the fact that I lived so close to practically all my family, I was starting to miss living in a diverse culture and feeling the need to be in new places and to see new things.
And then my sister Delinda graduated ASU with her Master's degree in Art History. She decided after her graduation (or maybe it was before...) that she wanted to go on and pursue her PhD. I'm not sure how many schools she looked at but two she mentioned were in Chicago and here in Atlanta. So being that she'd have to go far away and all alone, and knowing my feelings of where I was presently in my life- she asked if I'd want to move with her to wherever she went and be her roommate. This sparked my thoughts and I told her it depended on where she went and that I'd pray/think about it.
She visited both places and as she got a little more excited about living in Chicago but I didn't really feel so good about moving there. She found out though that she was excepted to Emory University in their Art History program here in Atlanta, which is an EXCELLENT school. I prayed about it and I felt like it was the right thing to do, but I didn't know why. I had no job here, no friends, and had only been here once in my whole life- and for a matter of hours really. I felt though, that even though I didn't REALLY know why I was supposed to come- that it might be possible that I would find my husband here and also have plenty of missionary opportunities. (Funny how things work out!)
So my roommate Emily graciously accepted the invitation to drive across the country with me and she and I packed up my little Neon and headed on our 3 day adventure!
We got here August 6th, 2004 unharmed, safe and with some fun memories behind our belt and that's when life in the ATL or "Hotlanta" started!
I wont lie- it was VERY difficult for me for about the first year and a half after moving here. For someone who has had friends around me for most of my life, I really didn't have any for that first little while. Well, of course I had DJ- but she was also very busy with school. I learned a lot about myself though, and learned that I had to work to have friends and needed to build some self confidence. I finally found my niche though- and started to fit in better and started to make awesome friends both at church and at work. I was even able to be so privileged and blessed to see and participate in a good friend of mine, Megan, receiving the discussions from the missionaries and who would eventually join the Church!
So anyway, here are some of the reasons why I love it here:

• I love how green it is here. Even in the winter it still shows greenery, and it makes the winter months bearable. And there's no snow, which sometimes I miss, but I get enough of it when I go home for the holidays! There is ice here though, and that can be just as bad.
• I love how laid back people seem to be here. And for the most part non-judgemental.
• I love being so close to water in general. I love to play and fish at the Chattahoochee, and I love that we are only about a 5-6 hour drive away from the beach either on the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic.
• Speaking of being close, I love that we are 2-3 hours from several different states. NC, SC, AL, TN, FL... it's so fun!
• I love our home, and that we feel away from the city but can drive a short 20-25 minutes to get there if we want to.
• There are so many activities and things to do here and so much to see, whether it be outdoors in the wilderness or museums or the aquarium or parks.
• The people are genuine and I love the diversity of religions, race and scenery.
• The tall buildings were (and still are) a bit intimidating, but they're quite impressive to look at and be beneath. (Not as impressive as the tall mountains of course... well, in my humble opinion anyway!)
• Lightening Bugs... or Fire Flies! Holy coolness Batman! I'm so glad my kids get to grow up with those... I always wanted to!
• I have been able to participate in missionary work, meet good friends, have had great new experiences, I became so much closer to my sister, and best of all- got to meet my husband!

There are quite a few other reasons, which I'm sure you'll realize as you continue to read my blog- but I am so glad that I got that special prompting to move here. All of the things I really felt would happen, did and with a bang too! I mean, I even got to participate in the conversion of my own husband! What a combo! And I'm so glad I got to move here with my sister who I lived with for two years, even though she left me for another state to live in (she moved back to Arizona). We had lots of fun with each other and I think we both went through some pretty big life changing experiences, although completely different from each other. I'm SO glad that we had each other through it all. And she still has a room at our house! Love you Deej!