Catching up!

I really truly haven't been on here in so long. In fact, most people probably won't even notice this new post because they have given up new posts from me! lol. I am going to update on my life in numbered form:

1. In July, my sister Bonny moved in with Rick and me. It was fun having her here, but she decided that she needed to go back to AZ in November and isn't sure if she is coming back or not. I really love her and I hope she does, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?!?

2. My brother, Collin, and his wifee, Jenn, have birth to their first little baby/girl on July 30. They named her Irie and she is just so cute! It has been fun to watch her grow and become more alert and smiley! I really like her a lot and think she is super cute!

3. I got a job at Nordstrom selling clothes! I love clothes! I love fashion! I did not love working retail. I quit on my fourth day. I did get 3 pair of really cute jeans at a great discount out of the job, so that was good.

4. I finished my 2nd year of school last Thursday! I only have 3 classes left till I have my associates. However, I am not planning on stopping there...I was hoping to go to UNLV next semester but I didn't apply in time, so I will have to load up on classes there in the summer to catch up on what I won't be able to during the Spring.

5. Not so fun news: My grandpa Burke died recently and I went to Arizona for his funeral. I miss him a lot, and while it was very sad to be at his funeral, it was really wonderful to see family that I haven't seen in years. I love how funerals are not as life stopping as they are for many other people, and I contribute this to our gospel and the faith and hope we have that we will see our family and friends again. This knowledge comes in handy now, because my Grandpa Mac is in the hospital, and we are all preparing for the near time when she will say goodbye to us, and move onto the next part of her life. I love my family, and feel so blessed to have such a huge and wonderful support system!

6. It snowed yesterday!!!! In Las Vegas!!!!! Nevada!!!!! I woke up yesterday morning to take my doggies to the bathroom. As I opened my bedroom door, I glanced out the hallway windows, only to do a double take at the giant snowflakes that were gently falling to the white ground below! It snowed all day and I loved it! I truly had not been in the spirit of the season until yesterday. I spent part of the afternoon decorating my house for Christmas, and then Rick and I watching 3 movies, all while cuddling on the couch under warm blankets. It was a good day!

Ugandan Conflict

I'm very frustrated. For those of you who don't know, a horrible war has been going on in Northern Uganda in Africa for a long time. As seen in the movie, Blood Diamond, many children have been abducted to serve as child soldiers, and many people have been mercilessly killed. In 2007, the leader of the Lord's Rebel Army or LRA (those doing the abducting), went into peace negotiations with the Ugandan gov't to end this long war, and the Ugandan people, many of whom were living in camps because their homes weren't safe, had a small glimmer of hope. Unfortunately for them, Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, refused to sign peace negotiations and the war is going to resume. Please, Please, Please, do some research on this issue, and write the White House to request that they end this conflict. If we are fighting over something so trivial as oil, surely we can step in to help end a genocide! You can find info through Invisable Children (watch their video, Invisable Children), or you can go to www. resolveuganda.org.

In closing, I really hope you guys check this out, and I hope it has the impact on you that it has had on me. Even if you do nothing with this other than check out the websites I gave you, at least you will have informed yourself about something dire that is going on in our world!

Memorial Day Hike

This is the picture the vet took

This was not a comfortable pose

So Rick and I have decided to become more "ONE WITH NATURE", or at least that's how Rick puts it. In keeping with this new "trend", we went on a Memorial Day hike to the top of a mountain Rick has been wanting to hike. When we got to the top, a vet and his wife were up there putting up a flag. They were cool people, and were nice enough to take a picture of us next to the flag.

The hike itself was way harder than we thought it was going to be. It only took 45 minutes there and back, but it was straight uphill. It didn't help that we started the hike jogging. Five minutes into it our lungs were burning and our calves were on fire! We thought we were in better shape than that, but I guess running on a treadmill just can't compare to doing cardio outside. All in all, the view from the top was gorgeous, we got a good workout outside for a change, and took some pictures we can show our kids when they are our age. It was a good day!Rick at the top! What a great view, hey?

My Mom took a picture like this when she was 18, and I thought it would be cool to recreate this picture and frame them side by side. She was way cuter than me in her picture though. I'll have to scan it and post them here.

Bonny's graduation

So it has been a really long time since I last posted anything, so here I am. I just realized that is the way I preface almost every post, and that is kind of sad. I actually have something to write about though, and this is why I am on right now.

This last week I went to Arizona for my sister Bonny's graduation. This was a monumental moment because she is the first one in my family to graduate highschool. Don't get me wrong, we aren't highschool dropouts. Rather, we have all been homeschooled until her. The trip was a lot of fun, and very quick. My sister, Jennie, and I rode from Mesa up to Pinetop together and I made her stop and take a lot of pictures with me on the way. As a result, a trip that should only take 3 hours ended up taking almost five. We also had to drive a little slower though because it was raining, and driving 80 miles an hour, in the rain, in the winding Salt River Canyon is not an extremely safe thing.

It was windy!

When we finally made it up to the mountains we were suprised to see that it was snowing. It was pretty cool to come from 104 degrees in Vegas to 30 degrees and snowing in May! I loved it and wished I had Rick with me. The unexpected snow did cause one small glitch in graduation though. The ceremony was originally going to be held on the football field so all the family and friends could fit, but obviously, this had to change. The ceremony was moved indoors to the gym and each grad was only allowed 10 tickets. Luckily, Bonny's friends gave her their extra tickets, and we were able to fit our entire family of 14. Let me tell you, Bonny and her friends had more cheers that any other graduate there, which was awesome! They loved it!

The trip was fun and it was fast. It made me miss being near my family, and heightened my desire to move back to Arizona. Hopefully we'll end up there in the next couple years.

Yes, this is Dad, laying in the snow!

On a side note, Collin and Jenn took me to Oregano's in Mesa for the first time, and it was tasty! If you are ever down there, or even better yet, live there, you should go!

2007 in retrospect

So I was looking at someone's blog, and saw the coolest thing! She had a run down of the special things that happened during each month of the year, and I decided to take her idea, so here goes:

January: I started my first semester of college! It was fun, and I got hooked! Rick was stressed with his crazy work schedule and regretting becoming a dentist. We also bought our first dog ever, and named her Izzy.

February: We put down money on our first house. This was very exciting and with only four months till the house was scheduled to be finished, we were counting down to getting out apartments FOREVER! We also celebrated our 7th anniversary, which we thought was a pretty cool thing!

March: We got to pick out the options for our house, but chose to only upgrade the appliances and electrical package through the builder. My best friend, Angela, got married this month as well, and I got to be the Matron of Honor. She looked beautiful and I was happy to be there to support her.

April: Man, we must be boring. Still can't remember anything interesting happening. Oh, wait, this doesn't have to do with me, but Angela (see above) called me at six in the AM to tell me she was pregnant! What am I thinking? We bought our 2nd puppy, Lola, and had fun times potty training, again.

May: Rick and I went back to the Bay for the the first time since he graduated dental school. We ate at our favorite pizza joint, Pizz'a Chicago, and spent some time down in San Diego as well. It was good to be back in Cali, and solidified our desire to end up there. Rick also got a new job complete with a better schedule of Tuesday through Friday. I can't tell you how much I love having him home with me three days a week!

June: I turned 26! Also took a 6 week math class. Nuff said.

July: Celebrated 4th of July with friends at the Ritz-Carlton pool. That isn't really so exciting, but unfortunately, that was the extent of our coolness for the month.

August: My family came to visit us, and my sister, Bonny, stayed behind and hung out with me for a week or so. I had fun with her, and she gained a new appreciation for her dog nephews. Lola, who gets carsick, threw up on her a couple of times, but she, feeling Christlike, forgave her.

I started my second semester of school, this time with a full schedule of 15 credits, and I changed my major from Kinesiology to Finance. Yum yum!

September: The month of wedding. My cousin, Justin, and a family friend of mine, Aleisha, got married on the 8th. Rick and I went to Show Low to show our love and support, and had a really good time reconnecting with family we hadn't seen in a while. Rick's younger brother, Kris, also got married to a wonderful girl name CheyAnne on the 15th. We also saw many people we hadn't seen in a long time and truly enjoyed ourselves. Finally, we decided to back out of our house, which still wasn't finished, and bought another, bigger, totally upgraded house. A new, three month countdown started...

October: Rick celebrated his 30th birthday on the 5th! I threw him a suprise birthday, and he was suprised! The day was stressful, and I thought my secret was going to be given away a couple of times, but everything came together and we had a good time. I gave my lovely hubs a PS3 for his bday present, and to this day, it is used mainly as a DVD player. Oh well. I'm thankful he isn't a game junkie.

November: We spent Thanksgiving here in Vegas with family. We got to meet my Aunties' sister from Hawaii, and she was so much fun! We had a good Thanksgiving weekend filled with food, conversation, and games. Only three more weeks till move-in! Apartments be gone!

December: Christmas :-) Family :-) Food:-) HOUSE :-) :-) House flooding :-( This month was the busiest month of the year for sure. I had finals, moved, and painted our new house in all the same week. My entire family spent Christmas with us, and our house was bustling for five wonderful days! We had fun with them, but were glad to have our quiet times back to ourselves. The year was good, we made a lot of progress in our lives, and were looking forward to what 2008 would bring.

Fatty Lola

My little fatty Lola likes to think she's petite. Izzy has this plastic shoe box she likes so lay in, and because she is so small, she fits in it perfectly. Lola must have been feeling delusionally small, because one day I came into the kitchen to find that she had shoved her big, furry booty into the little box. Maybe this was her version of trying to fit into her skinny jeans!

Big Bad Balloon

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but my little Lola dog is a scaredy dog. She gets scared by sudden movements, noises, and most recently, balloons. Rick got me one of those shiny balloons for Valentine's Day, and it is quite large. It is a big pink heart and you can record saying on it. Anyhow, Lola is terrified of it. We recorded her and Izzy barking at the balloon, so everytime you hit it, it activates their barking recording. This, to Lola, is quite freaky. Not only does this thing defy gravity and float, it also makes noises.

The other morning she came down, not remembering that the evil balloon was still downstairs, and two seconds later she had made it across the room and was barricaded under these pillows. She looked so cute I just had to take a picture!

The Jacket

"Do you have teekets, to the GUN show?!!?!"

The other day Rick came into the kitchen wearing his old Letterman jacket from highschool. He was doing all these "sexy and cool" poses for me, and I had to take pictures. He is such a stud!

And it's been awhile...

We have been in our new house for almost two months now (don't know how the time goes by so quickly), and alot has happened. I'll start at the beginning...

Three days after moving into our house--these same three days being filled with continuous painting of the downstairs interior--almost the entire bottom floor flooded. This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except for the small detail of wood flooring. Needless to say, the baseboards had to be torn out and we had five huge, loud fans blowing in half the downstairs, making it hard to think, carry on a conversation, or really have a nice, peaceful moment. The floors also had to come out, but that was put off till after Christmas.

The day after the floors flooded, my entire family was scheduled to come spend Christmas with us in our new, warm and cozy house, and the fans kind of detracted from that. Everything was cool though, because the fans would be gone in two days, and really, other than the missing baseboards, everything else looked fine. Who needs baseboard, anyway? Things would be fine...

Shower time! Collin and Jenn had just moved in with us, and after running the shower for 10 minutes to get hot water, no results had been produced and the water was still frigid. We checked my bathroom and, even MORE fridid. At this point, a light bulb went off over my head, and I went down to gas stovetop, turned it on, and...nothing. I'd forgotten to transfer the gas into our name, and the builder had turned it off. No big deal, I thought. I'll just call the gas company and they'll come turn in on today, right? WRONG!

The very condescending lady told me, "Ma'am, I understand you were moving, but you really should have called us a week before you moved to let us know you needed a transfer." I politely replied, "Ma'am, I've been wiping my own butt for several years now, and I don't need you to tell me what I should have done. I am well aware. However, I have 16 people, including small children, coming to stay at my house for Christmas. I understand today is Friday, and you are really busy, but isn't there anyway you can have someone drop by?" She was completely unsympathetic, and told me, for the second, unfeeling time, that Wednesday, a complete FIVE days from that moment, was the earliest someone could come out. Grrr. I yelled at her, and then hung up. For the record, I was very stressed and I don't regret it. She was a bee-och.

Four days later...Family came, and went. Busy house, teeming with people and noise and games and conversations. Lacking in hot water and the use of the stove, but warm enough thanks to space heaters and bodies. A good time, but nice to have a quiet house when the company left.

Five days later...Hot water! Delicious soup cooked on a hot ring of fire issuing from a stove that works! Space heaters? Relegated to the garage, with the house heater heating at 74 beautiful degrees of hotness. Mmmm. You don't know how much you appreciate the little things till they're gone.

This brings me to my message for the 2007 Christmas season. Never, ever, take anything, or anyone for granted. When you think your life is not the best, take a look around you at all the things surrounding you, and pick your favorite. Now think about this...you have a favorite, and a lot of people don't get that opportunity. Next, think about all the wonderful people in your life. Are they mostly happy and healthy? Most likely they are. Many people also don't have this security in their life. If you don't feel better at this point, repeat the process.

We are blessed, and we should never take this for granted.