July Celebrations

We had a good 4th of July in Arkansas, a portion of it was me sitting in a hotel lobby for about 3 hours, but then we made our way back to our apartments to start our celebration. We have been in Hotels since July 1st because we were having issues with licensing in Little Rock. The boys have now been forced to sell in cities about 3 hours away from our apartments, so the company has been buying the guys rooms to stay in. Anyway, we got home in time to have a BBQ by our pool with our fun friends. Then we all went to see fireworks, it made us miss Utah, their fireworks don't even compare. It was a day we missed home :)

We found out that the boys were going to be staying in hotels for at least a couple more weeks and if I were to go along and stay, we would have to pay for ourselves. That would be about 600 dollars, so Joseph was so nice and let me fly home to visit family over that time instead.
It has been about 2 weeks since I have seen him, so I am really missing him, but these past 2 weeks have been really fun. I was in Utah for a few days and then went camping in California with my family. Now I am in Arizona helping my brother and Sister in Law pack up their home to move.
It has been fun being with family, especially because today is my mom's birthday. We love her so much and are grateful, everyday, to have her in our lives :) If you know my mom, you love her, it is hard not to. Happy Birthday Mom!

Tagged

So my Sister-in-Law, Amy, knows I have some time on my hands and tagged me.

8 things I did yesterday
1. Attended Stake Conference where a woman told her great conversion story.
2. Took a 25 minute Nap
3. Went fishing with Joseph and Garrett at the Arkansas River
4. Helped a woman push her non-functioning car (I mostly watched)
5. Drove! I miss driving, I Never have a car to drive
6. Ate Yummy Couscous
7. I won at Pirates Dice! 2nd time ever. 2 out of like 30 times I have played.
8. Made Never On a Sundae for my friends and watched what about bob?

8 things I look forward to
1. The end of the Summer (How sad is that)
2. Being in Utah with Family
3. My twenty first Birtday
4. The birth of my new niece
5. Making my home, MY home (Gardening, Decorating . . .)
6. Pretending like the fall is still summer and going boating and hiking as it gets cold
7. Applying for my program in Feb (Finally!)
8. Training and Running the St. George Marathon next year

8 things I wish I could do
1. Run the St George Marathon this year :)
2. Have Short hair and have it look good on me.
3. Make it on the Amazing Race with my mom ha ha. That's right mom, I am still planning on it and I hope you are still on board.
4. Play an instrument, the flute or the piano
5. Run without having knee problems
6. I wish I could eat whatever whenever and still be in good running shape ha ha
(It is probably #6 that makes #5 a problem haha)
7. I wish I could be done with school
8. Travel through Europe for a few months

8 shows I watch (if I watch T.V)
1. FRIENDS (The Greatest)
2. So you think you can dance
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Lost
5. Heroes
6. The Office
7. Lie to me
8. Since I have been married, I haven't had Television :)


8 people I tag
1. Catalina
2. Mom (Nina)
3. Cynthia
4. Katie
5. Shannon
6. Lauren S.
7. Chessie

8. Ashley N.

Father's Day!

All my life, I have been a Daddy's Girl. I once even said, "I want to grow up and be big and strong like my dad" ha ha, good thing I was 3.

I adore my father for many reasons. He often seems intimidating to many, and yet he has a very sweet and tender side to him. He has always shown my mom such love and care and my niece and nephews love him and prefer him over everyone else.
Being so much like my mom, I have learned a lot from my dad, more than just loving sweets. The most recent thing I have learned from him and admire about him is . . .
Enjoying life along the way! I am one who likes to get everything done and stress about it until it is done. My Cute Dad was stressing about the financing on his restaurant, which just opened, and had so much on his mind. My mom was a little concerned and we were all just hoping everything was going to work out. 30 minutes after he had updated me on the chaotic situation, I found him in the backyard with his metal detector that had just come in the mail! He does what he can and goes on with his life and doesn't dwell on it.
He ended up in the backyard with Rhett for almost an hour that afternoon ha ha.

He is great at making me laugh and I love telling him stories because he has the best reactions. He is a kid at heart and he lets it show. Like the time when he got caught eating his birthday cake for breakfast one morning and tried to be sneaky so mom didn't find out. Or when someone, like Adam or Rhett, is telling him about why he is wrong about something and he plugs his ears, moves his head side to side, and makes a lot of noise to show them he doesn't care ha ha.

I think that is what I love most about my parents! They aren't my parents, they are my best friends! I love you Mom and Dad, Happy Father's Day.

Our Fishing Fun

We found a beatiful marina, on one of our sunday drives, and decided it would be fun to buy a couple of poles and go fishing.

We had a lot of fun with the whole experience. We spent nearly an hour in the fishing department, even though I told everyone it didn't matter what fishing pole they got, my transformers pole and I were going to dominate ha ha. It was a beautiful day, I have to thank Adam M. for taking a lot of great pictures for me.

The Hansens came to support. Rick, Leah, and little Keira came and fished for a little. Sandra and Steve came and Steve had the coolest thing ever happen to him.

As I was walking around on the rocks on the shore trying to catch another fish, I saw something move under the rock which I continued to fish off of. After looking a little closer I saw that it was a Snake! I had a water moccasin sitting right below me that whole time. Well we all backed away to put some distance between us and the scary snake and then steve caught a fish. As he was reeling it in, not in any rush, it got closer to the shore and the snake shot out from under the rock faster than we knew what was happening. As we started yelling for people to come and see it began to swallow the fish, and steves line, while we all watched. I tried to get a video as fast as I could ha ha.

I ended up being the only one who caught 2 fish big enough to take home, my kiddy fishing pole really struggled reeling them in too.

Keira and Chelsea

We ended up finding a bunch of craw fish/dads where we were fishing and Joseph was a pro at catching them.

It was a really fun day! I am always glad the boys get time to enjoy the summer too.

You know you want to come and visit!

Waterfalls in Arkansas

A couple weeks ago, we decided to take on a "strenuous" hike. It wasn't exactly what we expected, it was a nice walk. There aren't real mountains in Arkansa like in Utah ha ha.

It led to a really pretty waterfall which we got to hike behind. Just another fun day for "the wives club", that's what Eric calls the APX wives.

The boys are doing great, Joseph got 4 on Saturday! It is starting to get a lot hotter and more humid. We are finding ways to enjoy our summer, and I will be posting our fishing fun from this weekend.

SYTYCD!

It is summer time, which means not only swimming and playing, but the greatest show ever starts!

It started a few weeks ago with auditions, but now is the time to start watching (if you haven't been already). They have their top 20 picked and will be competing. I wish I had tivo here in Arkansas so I could watch the dances repeatedly like I usually do. Anyway, I thought I would try to fill people in so they didn't miss out :)

Eveyrone Loves Free, Right?

Just for anyone who wondered, tomorrow (Friday) is National Doughnut day. Go to your local Krispy Kremes and get your free doughnut which they will be handing out all day :)