Here is a draft I began in February:
Oh wow. Longest. Dryspell. Ever.
And honestly, I don't know if it is really over or not. Over the last couple of months I have occasionally thought, "maybe I should blog again"... and then nothing happened.
Why today? I don't know.
What is new? Too much to list it all. Anything critical? No, not really.
So, what now? I have no idea. lol
My girls are growing up and it kind of makes me sad. This week we have been talking to college counselors and are developing Cadi's plan as she prepares for her final years in high school.
WHAT!?!? Really? Already? This is too much. Next topic.
Rori is advancing to a brown belt in karate. That's halfway to her black belt! She loves it. Absolutely loves it. And her instructors love her commitment and enthusiasm. I love the discipline, and self-defense skills.
I guess the dryspell was not over because I never even finished/posted that. Since that post, we visited Utah for General Conference and to visit friends, the BYU campus, and just enjoy the area for a week. Then I had surgery, a breast reduction that took 2 months to recover from. It was a tough couple of months but now I feel amazing and am loving not just my new body but also a life without migraines! It was a hard decision to finally go through with the surgery and at times I wondered if it would be worth it, but now that I'm on this side of it, I can say it totally was! I am so glad that we did it. :)
Now Rori is a 2nd degree brown belt, Cadi has her license and is dating. School starts in less than a month and we've had a summer full of fun already. Family visited for Fourth of July, we went to Texas to see Ryan's family, Cadi successfully ran Girls Camp, my brother got married... this has been a great summer!
I'm still not sure I'm actually going to start blogging again. But, I guess just even typing up these draft posts is a step closer than I have been in years.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Friday, November 9, 2012
Halloween Pics
As promised, here are the photos from Halloween.
First, photos from when we went to a church Halloween Party, accept these were just taken at home as we were ready to leave:
Incidentally, Acadia got the Most Original Costume award at the party! :)
Then it really was Halloween so they got to dress up all over again, this time Cadi accessorized with a fan instead of her parasol:
They both had a lot of fun - both nights and brought home way more candy than any kid would really need. But that's part of the fun of it! lol
First, photos from when we went to a church Halloween Party, accept these were just taken at home as we were ready to leave:
Then it really was Halloween so they got to dress up all over again, this time Cadi accessorized with a fan instead of her parasol:
They both had a lot of fun - both nights and brought home way more candy than any kid would really need. But that's part of the fun of it! lol
It's time to move on...
I keep thinking of all the things I haven't blogged about, but should. I think it's time to move on. (Though, maybe I will post some Halloween pics really quick, that wasn't FOREVER ago, not even two full weeks...)
Let's just pretend that I've been a better blogger and we're all caught up. If any of you are stalking me, I apologize for the gaps in material, you will just have to work with what you've got.
So it is Fall. I mentioned that last post. I love Fall. I was married in Fall. I love the smells (I am not allowed to even enter a Bath & Bodyworks right now.), I love the colors, I love the treats.
I love that in just a couple of weeks I'll be gathering with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. I don't get to go home as often as I'd like. But we nearly always go home for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how ready I am yet, I think I'm doing okay, we'll see how many projects get finished this weekend. But either way, I always look forward to seeing family, and a few friends, and enjoying this time of year with them.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
And Like a Good Neighbor...
It is fall. I know this because all of the leaves have been falling off of the trees and no matter how quickly we rake them up, our lawn always seems to be carpeted with them.
Except, our lawn seems to rid itself of it's leaves much more often than we rake.
Our neighbors have taken it upon themselves to frequently blow the leaves off of our lawn for us! And then, they haul all the blown leaves away so we don't need to try to cram them all in our yard debris can.
It might seem like a small act of service, but we absolutely love and appreciate it! It is so kind of them.
If they didn't do this act of service for us, I would be spending at least 1-2 hours a week raking the leaves myself. We would fill our can within just one (possibly two if we only do the front yard and let the first batch settle first) rakings and would then have to wait until the pick up (which only comes every other week) or find another way/place to dispose of the leaves. But our neighbors own a yard maintenance business, so it is quick and easy for them. We have never asked for or expected their service, they simply began doing it. They actually started doing it while we were gone; at first when we'd ask if it had been them, they told us no, but then last week I came home while they were doing it and caught them in the act! The next day I took over a cake to say thank you.
Even as I type, I hear the leaf blower, yet again, out in my front yard.
It reminds me of some very sweet neighbors we had in Massachusetts. I do not remember how it began, but somehow, we found ourselves caught up in a war with them. It was a battle to see who could get up earlier to shovel the snow off of the other's walk after any snowfall. There were mornings that the scrapping of a snow shovel woke me up and I yelled, "Ryan, hurry, they are at it again!" Other times, we were the ones who beat them.
Those same Massachusetts neighbors had a cat - a cute, sweet cat that our daughter, Cadi LOVED! We didn't know the cat's name, so she named it "Meow". One day, we found a little gift on our porch for Cadi, from "Meow". It was a coloring book and crayons. Meow even bought Cadi a Christmas present. One of the saddest parts of moving from Massachusetts (besides leaving our East Coast family, of course), was saying goodbye to Meow.
Neighbors - good neighbors - are wonderful! They can bless and enrich our lives in the simplest of ways. I am so grateful for the neighbors we've been blessed with! Examples like these make me want to be a better neighbor, myself. <3 nbsp="nbsp">
Except, our lawn seems to rid itself of it's leaves much more often than we rake.
Our neighbors have taken it upon themselves to frequently blow the leaves off of our lawn for us! And then, they haul all the blown leaves away so we don't need to try to cram them all in our yard debris can.
It might seem like a small act of service, but we absolutely love and appreciate it! It is so kind of them.
If they didn't do this act of service for us, I would be spending at least 1-2 hours a week raking the leaves myself. We would fill our can within just one (possibly two if we only do the front yard and let the first batch settle first) rakings and would then have to wait until the pick up (which only comes every other week) or find another way/place to dispose of the leaves. But our neighbors own a yard maintenance business, so it is quick and easy for them. We have never asked for or expected their service, they simply began doing it. They actually started doing it while we were gone; at first when we'd ask if it had been them, they told us no, but then last week I came home while they were doing it and caught them in the act! The next day I took over a cake to say thank you.
Even as I type, I hear the leaf blower, yet again, out in my front yard.
It reminds me of some very sweet neighbors we had in Massachusetts. I do not remember how it began, but somehow, we found ourselves caught up in a war with them. It was a battle to see who could get up earlier to shovel the snow off of the other's walk after any snowfall. There were mornings that the scrapping of a snow shovel woke me up and I yelled, "Ryan, hurry, they are at it again!" Other times, we were the ones who beat them.
Those same Massachusetts neighbors had a cat - a cute, sweet cat that our daughter, Cadi LOVED! We didn't know the cat's name, so she named it "Meow". One day, we found a little gift on our porch for Cadi, from "Meow". It was a coloring book and crayons. Meow even bought Cadi a Christmas present. One of the saddest parts of moving from Massachusetts (besides leaving our East Coast family, of course), was saying goodbye to Meow.
Neighbors - good neighbors - are wonderful! They can bless and enrich our lives in the simplest of ways. I am so grateful for the neighbors we've been blessed with! Examples like these make me want to be a better neighbor, myself. <3 nbsp="nbsp">
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Disneyland 2012
I went to Disneyland!!!
*Most of the pictures I'll have from this trip are going to be coming from either my sister or from PhotoPass, and I won't have either for at least a couple weeks, maybe more. I have a few of my own photos though, and I'll share those now, but there just aren't very many.
One week ago, I was sitting in an airplane, headed for Anaheim. Everything went super smoothly. I arrived, caught my shuttle, and checked into our hotel. I was "piggybacking" on my sister's work trip, and they put us up in the Grand Californian, Disney's nicest Disneyland resort hotel! It was beautiful!
I didn't waste any time, as soon as I was checked in, I headed straight to the parks. I spent most of my time just getting familiar with California Adventure since I haven't been to Disneyland Resort since it had been added. I caught a couple shows and met Dug, the dog from Up! Dug is one of my favorite characters, even though Up is not one of my favorite movies. I just love him, though! When he finally arrived, I told him, "Dug, I have been waiting here for 35 minutes just to meet you... because I love you!" (You have to have seen the movie to understand.)
I also checked out Carsland!! It was so exciting to see this brand new land! It looks just like the movie and when you walk down Route 66 it feels like you are right there in Radiator Springs! I took these pictures on my own while I waited to meet up with everyone, then I took the next set when we were all together and went to see it all lit up at night.
I've been trying to decide what was my favorite part about Carsland, and I think it has to be the Carsland Racers ride, which was a BLAST! I'm getting a little out of order with my pics here, but this is the picture from when Debi and I rode it together Saturday morning.
Okay, back to Thursday afternoon. I had some friends from high school who happened to be at Disneyland at the same time, so we met up and spent a good hour or so together. It was so great to see them again! They had been high school sweethearts and now they are a family! I'm so happy for them and I'm so glad I got a chance to catch up with all that has been going on in their lives. Their oldest was with them and she was ADORABLE!!! She told me all about all of the rides she had been on and which were her favorites - she is a thrill seeker! One of her favorites was Tower of Terror!!! Before we parted ways, we took this pic...
Then it was time to meet up with my sister! Yay! We were so excited to be at Disneyland together!!! Her work had arranged for us to watch World of Color from the VIP section, so we headed back into California Adventure to get ready for that. Super cool fact: VIPs get free Glow with the Show Ears!!
World of Color was AMAZING!!! I didn't even bother trying to record it or photograph it because 1) I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it justice, and 2) I wanted to ENJOY it! It was absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to take my family back to see it! I just know they will all love it!!
The parks closed after World of Color ended, so we headed back to the hotel to relax in the hot tub and meet up with more of our group. We spent the rest of our weekend with Debi's co-worker/friend, Megan and her sister Jenna. They were SO MUCH FUN!
Jenna and I were on our own while our sisters had to work on Friday, and we got along together so well that we decided to enjoy Disneyland together until they were done working. Jenna is awesome! She absolutely loves Disneyland and knows a ton about it, which was a lot of fun for me! We rode on a bunch of rides and talked a lot. It was really great getting to know her; we became fast friends. :)
Even though we rode a bunch of rides, none of them were rides that took photos, so I don't have much by way of that to show you. But here are pictures of Disneyland decked out of Halloween Time...
And here are photos that I took of Sleeping Beauty Castle - I can't wait to bring Rori here!!
Once the sisters were done working, we met up with them and got ready for Mickey's Halloween Party!
We were all dressed as "Minnie" and were looking forward to taking lots of pictures with our boy Mickey! I have a lot of photos on our PhotoPass account and will be able to share them later, but for now, I can show you this picture that was taken with someone else's camera. Even though it was mostly just the four of us hanging out, there were some other girls from Debi's work that also dressed as Minnie and they were with us when we took this picture.
Mickey throws an AMAZING party! We rode a couple rides, watched the Halloween parade, got a great spot for the Halloween fireworks, and Trick-or-Treated!
Debi had been nervous about the rides. Let's be honest, she was being a fraidy cat. But we convinced her to just try one... and why we picked Space Mountain as the one she should try is beyond me because that combined most of her fears into one! But for whatever CRAZY reason, we decided to give it a go, and...
... SHE LOVED IT!!! After that, she was game for all the rides! (Except for spinning ones that get us sick, but we were all in agreement on that.)
We did ride one or two other rides that night, but once the fireworks were over, we noticed that the Trick-or-Treating trails were nearly empty so we took advantage of the short lines to fill our bags with candy. It was the first time I had been trick-or-treating (for myself) in over 20 years!!! And it was SO FUN! We totally felt like kids again!
The next day we were tired and sore from our late night playing, but that didn't stop us from hitting the parks again! We started in California Adventure. We rode Carsland Racers (Pic posted above), Toy Story Mania, Goofy's Fly School, Soarin', and the Grizzly River Run. It was all so much fun! Then we hopped over to Disneyland, where, to be honest, it is all a blur. We went on Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, and Splash Mountain. I'm pretty sure we went on more but I just can't remember. We also stopped to watch the parade, the normal fireworks, and Fantasmic! It felt good to stop and sit for awhile and when they were over, we were ready to hit some more rides before the park closed.
The other girls were going to be back in the parks on Sunday, but I had a flight taking me home, so this was my last night. One of the best parts of that day happened at the very end. We had already ridden Splash Mountain, and we were wet and kind of cold, but before we left, we wanted to ride it one more time. This time we decided to pose on our way down the drop. I think our photo turned out awesome, what do you think?
It was the perfect way to end my trip!
Disneyland is a magical place. No matter if it is your first time, or one hundred and first; no matter if you are young or just young at heart, Disney has the power to bring out the kid in each and every person who walks through those gates. I had such a great time on this trip! I loved spending it with my sister and I loved making new friends.
I can't wait to go back!!!
*Most of the pictures I'll have from this trip are going to be coming from either my sister or from PhotoPass, and I won't have either for at least a couple weeks, maybe more. I have a few of my own photos though, and I'll share those now, but there just aren't very many.
One week ago, I was sitting in an airplane, headed for Anaheim. Everything went super smoothly. I arrived, caught my shuttle, and checked into our hotel. I was "piggybacking" on my sister's work trip, and they put us up in the Grand Californian, Disney's nicest Disneyland resort hotel! It was beautiful!
I didn't waste any time, as soon as I was checked in, I headed straight to the parks. I spent most of my time just getting familiar with California Adventure since I haven't been to Disneyland Resort since it had been added. I caught a couple shows and met Dug, the dog from Up! Dug is one of my favorite characters, even though Up is not one of my favorite movies. I just love him, though! When he finally arrived, I told him, "Dug, I have been waiting here for 35 minutes just to meet you... because I love you!" (You have to have seen the movie to understand.)
I also checked out Carsland!! It was so exciting to see this brand new land! It looks just like the movie and when you walk down Route 66 it feels like you are right there in Radiator Springs! I took these pictures on my own while I waited to meet up with everyone, then I took the next set when we were all together and went to see it all lit up at night.
I've been trying to decide what was my favorite part about Carsland, and I think it has to be the Carsland Racers ride, which was a BLAST! I'm getting a little out of order with my pics here, but this is the picture from when Debi and I rode it together Saturday morning.
Okay, back to Thursday afternoon. I had some friends from high school who happened to be at Disneyland at the same time, so we met up and spent a good hour or so together. It was so great to see them again! They had been high school sweethearts and now they are a family! I'm so happy for them and I'm so glad I got a chance to catch up with all that has been going on in their lives. Their oldest was with them and she was ADORABLE!!! She told me all about all of the rides she had been on and which were her favorites - she is a thrill seeker! One of her favorites was Tower of Terror!!! Before we parted ways, we took this pic...
Then it was time to meet up with my sister! Yay! We were so excited to be at Disneyland together!!! Her work had arranged for us to watch World of Color from the VIP section, so we headed back into California Adventure to get ready for that. Super cool fact: VIPs get free Glow with the Show Ears!!
World of Color was AMAZING!!! I didn't even bother trying to record it or photograph it because 1) I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it justice, and 2) I wanted to ENJOY it! It was absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to take my family back to see it! I just know they will all love it!!
The parks closed after World of Color ended, so we headed back to the hotel to relax in the hot tub and meet up with more of our group. We spent the rest of our weekend with Debi's co-worker/friend, Megan and her sister Jenna. They were SO MUCH FUN!
Jenna and I were on our own while our sisters had to work on Friday, and we got along together so well that we decided to enjoy Disneyland together until they were done working. Jenna is awesome! She absolutely loves Disneyland and knows a ton about it, which was a lot of fun for me! We rode on a bunch of rides and talked a lot. It was really great getting to know her; we became fast friends. :)
Even though we rode a bunch of rides, none of them were rides that took photos, so I don't have much by way of that to show you. But here are pictures of Disneyland decked out of Halloween Time...
And here are photos that I took of Sleeping Beauty Castle - I can't wait to bring Rori here!!
Once the sisters were done working, we met up with them and got ready for Mickey's Halloween Party!
We were all dressed as "Minnie" and were looking forward to taking lots of pictures with our boy Mickey! I have a lot of photos on our PhotoPass account and will be able to share them later, but for now, I can show you this picture that was taken with someone else's camera. Even though it was mostly just the four of us hanging out, there were some other girls from Debi's work that also dressed as Minnie and they were with us when we took this picture.
Mickey throws an AMAZING party! We rode a couple rides, watched the Halloween parade, got a great spot for the Halloween fireworks, and Trick-or-Treated!
Debi had been nervous about the rides. Let's be honest, she was being a fraidy cat. But we convinced her to just try one... and why we picked Space Mountain as the one she should try is beyond me because that combined most of her fears into one! But for whatever CRAZY reason, we decided to give it a go, and...
... SHE LOVED IT!!! After that, she was game for all the rides! (Except for spinning ones that get us sick, but we were all in agreement on that.)
We did ride one or two other rides that night, but once the fireworks were over, we noticed that the Trick-or-Treating trails were nearly empty so we took advantage of the short lines to fill our bags with candy. It was the first time I had been trick-or-treating (for myself) in over 20 years!!! And it was SO FUN! We totally felt like kids again!
The next day we were tired and sore from our late night playing, but that didn't stop us from hitting the parks again! We started in California Adventure. We rode Carsland Racers (Pic posted above), Toy Story Mania, Goofy's Fly School, Soarin', and the Grizzly River Run. It was all so much fun! Then we hopped over to Disneyland, where, to be honest, it is all a blur. We went on Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, and Splash Mountain. I'm pretty sure we went on more but I just can't remember. We also stopped to watch the parade, the normal fireworks, and Fantasmic! It felt good to stop and sit for awhile and when they were over, we were ready to hit some more rides before the park closed.
The other girls were going to be back in the parks on Sunday, but I had a flight taking me home, so this was my last night. One of the best parts of that day happened at the very end. We had already ridden Splash Mountain, and we were wet and kind of cold, but before we left, we wanted to ride it one more time. This time we decided to pose on our way down the drop. I think our photo turned out awesome, what do you think?
It was the perfect way to end my trip!
Disneyland is a magical place. No matter if it is your first time, or one hundred and first; no matter if you are young or just young at heart, Disney has the power to bring out the kid in each and every person who walks through those gates. I had such a great time on this trip! I loved spending it with my sister and I loved making new friends.
I can't wait to go back!!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Up Early
The *real* reason why I'm up so early (I woke up around 4:30, laid in bed until 5:30, then finally submitted and got up) is because someone (not mentioning names, but I am married to him) set his alarm for 4:30 so he could get up and go to the gym before work. To give him credit, he did do this the last two days successfully. Today... well, it is after 6am and he is still in bed. :S
But let's just pretend that the reason is because I'm about to check-in for my flight!
What flight? Oh yeah, I haven't been blogging. So now I have to catch you up a little...
My sister works for Visit California and one of the cool perks to her job is that a couple times a year they have board meetings at various tourist locations throughout California. This month's meeting... at Disneyland! The poor, poor girl has to go to Disneyland for work. They are paying for it, and they are paying her to be there. Tough job, right?!?
Yeah, so in order to support her during such a trying and mundane business trip, I booked a flight to meet her there. (I'm so thoughtful, aren't I?!?) Her work is paying for our first night, they are putting her/us in the Grand Californian!! They also comped us our park tickets - sweet! We elected to stay longer than the business trip and are paying for our final two nights, but will be switching over to a motel more in our budget for those. ;)
I feel just slightly guilty for leaving my family behind and going to Disney by myself. But since I'm getting such a great deal, and it's all a tax write-off for me, not to mention that I really should be going somewhat regularly for work anyways (hehehe), I am pretty sure I'll be over that guilt as soon as I get there. ;) Besides, this is good sisterly bonding time!! I have to introduce her to my boyfriend! (She has never met him before!!)
So, that is why I'm up! At least, that is why I'm not grumpy to be up, which is the absolute truth. ;)
But let's just pretend that the reason is because I'm about to check-in for my flight!
What flight? Oh yeah, I haven't been blogging. So now I have to catch you up a little...
My sister works for Visit California and one of the cool perks to her job is that a couple times a year they have board meetings at various tourist locations throughout California. This month's meeting... at Disneyland! The poor, poor girl has to go to Disneyland for work. They are paying for it, and they are paying her to be there. Tough job, right?!?
Yeah, so in order to support her during such a trying and mundane business trip, I booked a flight to meet her there. (I'm so thoughtful, aren't I?!?) Her work is paying for our first night, they are putting her/us in the Grand Californian!! They also comped us our park tickets - sweet! We elected to stay longer than the business trip and are paying for our final two nights, but will be switching over to a motel more in our budget for those. ;)
I feel just slightly guilty for leaving my family behind and going to Disney by myself. But since I'm getting such a great deal, and it's all a tax write-off for me, not to mention that I really should be going somewhat regularly for work anyways (hehehe), I am pretty sure I'll be over that guilt as soon as I get there. ;) Besides, this is good sisterly bonding time!! I have to introduce her to my boyfriend! (She has never met him before!!)
So, that is why I'm up! At least, that is why I'm not grumpy to be up, which is the absolute truth. ;)
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
My husband told me to blog.
Actually, today being our 16th wedding anniversary, I was pondering on the many years we have spent together and it dawned on me...
I have spent more of my life with Ryan than without!
I did the math, just to be sure...
I estimate (not factoring in leap years) that at the time Ryan and I first started to really see each other (I'm not counting chance meetings prior to when our relationship really began.) I had been alive for about 6763 days. 6763 days "before Ryan". But once we began to see each other, we saw each other every single day (except for the five while he was out of town) until we were married. And I estimate (again, not factoring leap years) there have been 6825 of those. 6825 days of our "Happily Ever After" (so far). :)
Initially, I did the math based on when we first met, not when we started to date, so I announced on FB that about 84 days ago we crossed the halfway point. But truthfully, even after we first met, I wouldn't say that was when my life with him began. It was once we started dating. And when I factored that, getting the numbers I gave above, that means that about 62 days ago we crossed that point.
I texted him to let him know of my realization, which he thought was very cool and told me I should blog it, hence this post and it's title. ;)
Then he asked me to figure out when his "halfway point" will be. Well, he is older than I am, so he lived more days before we met than I did, and he has a little over a year still to go. ;)
I absolutely love that the majority of my life has now officially been with Ryan! He is my best friend and is my very favorite person to be with! I am so grateful that we have so many years left ahead of us... and then eternity to be together! Anything less would not be enough. <3 p="p">
I have spent more of my life with Ryan than without!
I did the math, just to be sure...
I estimate (not factoring in leap years) that at the time Ryan and I first started to really see each other (I'm not counting chance meetings prior to when our relationship really began.) I had been alive for about 6763 days. 6763 days "before Ryan". But once we began to see each other, we saw each other every single day (except for the five while he was out of town) until we were married. And I estimate (again, not factoring leap years) there have been 6825 of those. 6825 days of our "Happily Ever After" (so far). :)
Initially, I did the math based on when we first met, not when we started to date, so I announced on FB that about 84 days ago we crossed the halfway point. But truthfully, even after we first met, I wouldn't say that was when my life with him began. It was once we started dating. And when I factored that, getting the numbers I gave above, that means that about 62 days ago we crossed that point.
I texted him to let him know of my realization, which he thought was very cool and told me I should blog it, hence this post and it's title. ;)
Then he asked me to figure out when his "halfway point" will be. Well, he is older than I am, so he lived more days before we met than I did, and he has a little over a year still to go. ;)
I absolutely love that the majority of my life has now officially been with Ryan! He is my best friend and is my very favorite person to be with! I am so grateful that we have so many years left ahead of us... and then eternity to be together! Anything less would not be enough. <3 p="p">
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