It's been forever!

Man I need to get better at this whole blogging thing! It has been a loooooong time since I have updated everyone on what is going on in our lives. So here you go......

Work: Matt is working.... I am not...... LOL...... Matt is doing very well making a name for himself in his industry. He has taken on a few big clients and and few small ones too. He is amazingly smart at what he does. I have been watching my sisters kiddos for her while they are working. It has been so fun to have Aspen and Kaigan during the day and picking the girls up from school is always an adventure.

Home: We are trying to get our yard finished up... we need to finish the gardens, get the parking pad on the side of the house put in, get a shed put up in the backyard and get the veggie garden in for the summer. The grass is finally starting to look okay and we are slowly making progress.

Family: We have been trying to spend as much time as possible with Matt's brother Pat and his wife Melissa and their daughter Lily. They will be moving to Kentucky at the end of May so that Pat can go to dental school. He recently graduated from Weber State, we are so proud of him! It was definitely a family effort so good job Pat Melissa and Lily!!! We are going to miss them tons but we are so excited for them to have this great adventure! And we will be going on lots of vacations to Kentucky in the next 4 to 8 years!

We also got to SPOIL our nieces and nephews and some of our friends kids for Easter this year. We threw a big Easter egg hunt and BBQ at our house for them all. I am not sure who had more fun, the big kids or the little ones!

Fun: Matt and I have decided that we want to buy a Rhino or a Razor this summer. We can't wait to get out there and have some fun!

I am so ready for summer! Hopefully there will be lots more for us to update you on!

Things I have learned about me... the stolen blog

So I just read a friends blog and loved it so I am stealing her idea :) Thanks Carlee Hansen for the idea!

Here are a few of the things I have learned about me.

1-I am a really stubborn person. I accuse my hubby of being stubborn but the fact is I am just as much as he is.

2-There are times that I am totally okay with being lazy. I usually feel guilty about it later but in the moment I am okay with it.

3-I have no will power at all.

4-I have a super bad habit of not finishing stuff that I start. If there were one thing that I could instantly change about myself this would be it. Who knows I might not even finish this blog.... I think I just get easily bored with things.

5-I have a strong aversion to good for me things, fruits, veggies, non fattening foods. I can say that I am a junk food addict. This would be thing #2 that I would pick to instantly change about me.

6-Somehow I missed out on the girly genes in my family. How is it that I do not know how to do hair or put on makeup and make it look good. I look at my sisters and think, wow I really missed out on those classes or something.

7-I think of my dog as my kid. Hopefully if we have real kids that will change but for right now Daisy is it.

8-Living with just Matt for as long as I have has changed the amount of noise and confusion I can handle before its time for me to tell the nieces and nephews good night and run for the hills!

9-I am uncomfortable with physical contact. I am not sure why this is but it is mostly with people who are skinnyier than me (which is a lot of people). I don't like to touch my fat so why would I make them? I know, issues.... I have them....

10-I don't have a lot of favorite things, no favorite color, no favorite food, no favorite season, no favorite holiday. They all have good things about them and it is too hard to choose.

I'm sure that there will be more that I learn as I go on but here is the start.

End of summer update

Well before I knew what had happened this summer just snuck away from us! Once again we were so busy that I didn't have a ton of time to take it all in or write it all down. I guess that just means that we had too much fun!

Here are some of the highlights:

Miss Lily turned 2 in June and Melissa put together the cutest train themed party for her since Lily loves trains. She got some awesome gifts and tons of sun glasses from her uncles, she is definitely a loved little girl.

We spent a weekend up at my aunts cabin in the Bear Lake area and did a 5k race with my family in memory of my Grandma Earl. It was such an amazing experience and I am so glad that my Grandpa and Aunt Christine were able to join us. We had so much fun spending time with them at the cabin and just getting to know each other again as adults. My Grandpa is such a character! I absolutely LOVE spending time with him.

Matt and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary this year! Matt had to work late that night so we ended up just having dinner here at the house but we still had a good day.

This year the 4th of July was on a Sunday so that meant a whole weekend of fun! We spent the day on Saturday going to the West Point Parade and carnival. We had a BBQ at Erin's, and one on Monday at Aunt Pat's.

Up next was Cherry Hill with the Bookers for Ashlee's birthday. This is the second year we have gone and we had so much fun!

We also had a surprise party that night for Ashlee at my mom and dad's house since she was turning the big 3-0! I can not believe that we managed to keep it a secret from her for over 2 months! We did a luau theme and Courtnee and Randi did such an amazing job on the decorations.

For the 24th of July we packed up the camping stuff and headed up to Weber Memorial camp ground up by Causey. Ashley was able to get us a reservation for the most awesome group site since she works for Weber County. We were down in a little valley area that was totally blocked off and we had tons of room for everyone. We hung out at the campground, spent a day swimming at Causey and even went for a little bit of a 4-wheeler ride up on Monte. We spent the evenings sitting around the HUGE campfire and Ben roasted littl' smokies for us instead of marshmallows :)

In August we had a bit of a rough start. Ashley's parents were involved in an accident on their motorcycle the first part of August. It has been a long road of recovery for both of them and they still have a ways to go. They also lost a good family friend in the accident. I am amazed at the strength that they have both shown in working through this. We love them so much and don't know what we would do without them!

Matt also found out at the beginning of August that he was laid off from his job. While I freaked out he just started getting his name and resume out there and before we knew it he had tons of offers coming in. While most of them would require that we move out of state he was able to find out that for now will allow him to work from home with the possibility of working for them permanently once they can see how the work from home thing works out. They have been sending him a ton of work and keeping him really busy.

We have made some good progress on our yard as well. We now have a lawn to mow!!!! I am so excited to see it coming together. We are going to wait until the spring to do the concert curbing but we are going to work on getting the flower beds planted this fall, we just can't pass up the great fall sales that are going on now!

Is it summer yet??

I really can't believe that it is the middle of June and we are still having weather that reminds me of April and May! It is actually a good thing for us though, we are still in the process of getting our yard put in and the cooler weather is great for seeding a lawn, if we can ever get to that point. We are almost done with the sprinkler system, we just have to put in one more line and hook up the last set of valves. We are so lucky to have the family we do, they have shown up several nights in a row and helped us get everything put together! My dad has been awesome, patiently answering my many, and sometimes ridiculous, questions about what goes where and why things work the way they do. He has a way of making things just make sense. It has been fun to see Matt really get into doing stuff in the yard, sometimes I still have to drag him out there screaming but we still manage to get done what needs to be done. We also got our veggie garden planted, I can't wait to see how things turn out, can't wait to have an ear of fresh corn with dinner!

Right now pretty much all of our time is spent working on yard stuff. This coming weekend we do get to take some time off and do something fun for a good cause. Last summer my Grandma Earl passed away after fighting cancer for about 3 years. During the time that she was receiving her treatments she was going down to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. When Brandi and I were down at the Susan Koman Race for Life 5k Brandi said she wanted to find out if there was a 5k the benefited the Huntsman Cancer Institute and if so we should participate in it in honor of our Grandma. So she did some digging and found one that is being held up at Bear Lake. We are going to head up the night before and stay for the weekend at my aunt Jane's cabin and spend some time with the family and with my Grandpa as well. It should be a very memorable weekend!

New Year, New Me

Another year another set of New Years Resolutions. Hopefully this year they will stick!

About a month or more ago my sister Erin told me that she had gone to a doctor in Ogden and got a prescription for Phentremine, an appetite suppressor. She had been on it for about a month around Christmas time and she had been able to loose 20 pounds! After hearing that 2 of my other sisters, my cousin and a friend were all taking it I figured what do I have to loose by trying it. So I decided to make an appointment to go see the doctor. I started taking it on a Wednesday and that same day went and signed up for a gym membership with Ashlee at Lady Fitness. That night I went to the gym by myself for about 45 minutes or so. The next night Ashlee and I decided to try out a basic step class. It was so much fun and I sweat my guts out! I wasn't able to do everything that the rest of the class was able to do but I kept moving the whole time. I had always thought about doing a class like that but was always held back by the fear of what others in the class would think of me. After finishing the class I realized that everyone else in the class was there for the same reason and they were too busy worrying about themselves to worry about what I was doing.

Along with changing my exercise habits I have made some pretty big changes to what I eat as well. I have had a ton of help from my hubby, my sisters and my friend Cande who came over and spent about 3 hours giving me some pointers about what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat etc. I'm not sure that I am quite used to it yet but so far so good. I have been keeping track daily of what I eat for each meal and snack, how much water I drink and how much exercise I do. I feel more responsible for what I eat, I know that I am going to have to put it down on paper and I want to make sure that I am doing it right. I have cut out the caffeine (soda) completely, almost... I get one soda (with lots of ice) on my cheat day which is Sunday.

One of the things that has been the biggest motivation was buying a scale. I have never owned one. I used to think that it wasn't important to see what I weighed. I figured if I could see a difference in the way my clothes fit that would tell me I was loosing weight. Man was I wrong! Sometimes I take a while to loose enough weight to show a difference in how my clothes fit but if I can see the difference in the numbers on the scale I get so excited!! And then I am super careful because I don't want to see them go back up!! Every time I have a craving for something that I know isn't the best choice for me I just remember that I want to keep those numbers down and then I go pick something that is better for me.

I know that it is still early, it has only been a week, but I love that I have tried something that has scared me in the past and I am actually succeeding at it!

Catching up...

It has been a while since I have posted so I thought I would get some new info up here for anyone who reads.

To say that this summer has been busy would be an understatement of the century! We have had so much going on this summer it seems that we are always on the run.

The whole month of July seems like a blur. In my previous post I had mentioned that my Grandma Earl was not doing well. I feel so lucky now to have know this before hand so that I was able to spend some time with her and really let her know how much I loved her before she passed away. I am not sure what it is with us Earl's but it was very hard to go see her while she was sick. I know that part of it was that I wanted my memories of my Grandma to be of the healthy, vibrant, wonderfully funny person that she has always been in my life. To see her sick and in pain was hard for me to deal with, which also made me feel very selfish as I was staying away for reasons that only had to do with me and my feelings. I knew that it was important for her that she have a chance to let us all know her thoughts and feelings as well. In the end I feel good about the time that I did have with her. I know that I was not up there as often as some of my other family members but I was there enough to know that I was loved and enough that she knew I loved her. All in all I think that is what is important, that those feelings were made known before she passed away.

This funeral for many reasons seemed different for me. I kept thinking that there was something wrong with me, I was not as openly emotional as those around me, although I know that I was missing her as much as they were. I just could not be sad that she was gone. I know that the last 4 years for her were painful and hard. I know that she is in a much better place now and that her faith never wavered. I know that she was ready to go, she told she was. I was not surprised, but amazed to realize how many people she knew and was loved by. Even though there was very short notice given for the funeral and viewing there were so many people that came out to support and show their love for her. I have always known that my Grandma was a lovable person, I just didn't realize how many other people knew that too. Seeing all of those people there it was impossible to think that her life was anything less than blessed.

There are things about her being gone that do make me sad but mostly have to do with those that she left behind. I cry when I think of my Grandpa being alone now. He had the most faithful partner one could ask for for over 50 years. My Grandma loved taking care of him. She didn't see it as a job or a responsibility, she saw it as something she loved to do. Again I have stayed away. I am having a hard time facing that reality that when I walk in the front door at Grandma and Grandpa's it is just going to be Grandpa... I hope that my Grandpa knows that this has anything to do with how much I love him, I just can't seem to make myself face it yet. It's pretty selfish but I have to do it in my own time.

In August our attention turned to Ben and Ashley and their wonderful wedding! It was a near perfect day, the only downsides were not having our Grandmas there and me not working the cam-corder correctly! Ashley made a BEAUTIFUL bride and I just have to say I have one of the most HANDSOME brothers ever!! I am so happy for both of them, and wish them the happiest life ever!!!

Ben and Ashley asked me to help them put together a video for the wedding of pictures of them when they were little and then some of them together and their engagement pictures. I had so much fun putting it together and working with them on it! I really got to know Ashley better and had a blast working with her.

This coming weekend is thankfully our first weekend with NOTHING planned!! Time to relax!

Memories...

This past week has left me feeling rather nostalgic. My family found out on Monday that there is nothing more that the doctors can do for my Grandma E. in her fight against cancer and they can only give her 2 to 3 more weeks to live. The thing that amazes me the most is that she is the one that is trying to comfort us through this whole thing. I went up and visited on Wednesday and she let me know then that she was ready to face whatever came her way. She knows that she has had a successful, fulfilled, happy life. She is such a strong woman even at her weakest point.

I want to make sure that I get some of my memories recorded while they are still fresh. And I want to thank all of my cousins and siblings for sharing their memories over the last week which has helped me remember some things that I had tucked away.

One of my earliest memories was spending long hot summer days just hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. They had a ton of grass and lots of shade and it was the perfect spot for all the kids to play. She would let us take blankets out and lay out on the lawn and play and visit. We spent hours sitting outside snipping beans or husking corn so that our mom's could help her can it or put it in Seal-A-Meal bags to go in the freezer.

Sundays were always spent at Grandma's. Sometimes we went up for dinner but most of the time we just went up to visit which always included cake and Farr's Chocolate Chip ice cream. And Grandma always got the corner pieces of the cake. And if there were two kinds of cake she always wanted "just a little piece of both, but make sure that it is a corner." If we were lucky Grandma would make home made ice cream for us, that was a special treat and man did we LOVE it. After dessert was out of the way our favorite thing to do while the adults talked was combing Grandma's hair. We would fight over the comb and she was always fair about making sure we each got a turn. Even though we loved to do it I think she enjoyed it more, give us 20 minutes with the comb and Grandma would fall asleep sitting up!

If we ever got hungry while we were at Grandma's we could always talk her into making us a sandwich, home made raspberry freezer jam or peanut butter and honey. Some of my other favorites were sloppy joes and her orange jello salad with marshmallows.

My Grandma is an amazing quilter. There was rarely a time when we were little that there was not a quilt on when we got to Grandma's. I have been the recipient of a few of Grandma's quilts. We used to hide out under the quilts while our mom's worked on them with Grandma. It was like our own little secret hide out down there. I wish that I had even half of the talent that she has in that department. Her quilts are definitely a work of art.

Grandma is also very good at telling stories. She loves to tell us about how she met my Grandpa and about the time they spent dating. She would pull out her yearbook from Davis High and open it to the picture of Grandpa in his basketball uniform and say "look at those legs! Aren't they just sexy!" I love looking at pictures of my grandparents when they were young, we would look at them and tease my Grandma about what a hottie she was when she first married my Grandpa. She would just laugh and tell us how lucky she was to have fallen in love with my Grandpa.

I don't think that there were ever any strangers in my Grandma's life or anyone that she didn't know. No matter where we went she always made it a point to meet new people. I remember taking my cousin to the airport, back when you could do that, when he was leaving on his mission. As we were walking towards the terminal there was a whole line of missionaries waiting for their flight to get there. Grandma noticed that they didn't have parents there to send them off so she went over and introduced herself to them, asked them each where they were serving their missions and wished them good luck on their missions. When we asked her why she did that she said that she didn't want them to feel bad that their families weren't there to see them off.

If you asked my Grandma if she knew someone most of the time she could tell you where they lived, who they were related to and what ward they were in. She made it a point to get to know everyone she came in contact with and was always willing to help out whenever needed.

I love you so much Grandma. I hope that the rest of the time that we have with you can be meaningful and pain free for you. You have taught me some of the most important lessons in life. Be strong, don't worry about the little stuff and be a friend to everyone. I pray that I become half the woman you are!