Isbell's in Alaska

Zip-lining how could I forget

2011-10-17T00:10:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post some pictures of Lexi and I Zip-lining. While Lexi was out visiting us in July we went zip-lining.

It was a lot of fun I would definitely go again.

Here is some random pictures of Lexi's visit.

Our summer visit to Utah

2011-10-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it has taken me so long but I am now updating everyone on our trip to Utah.

Derek and I wanted to get sealed in Utah at the beginning of Aug. He only got to stay for 5 days and I stayed the whole month. The first few days were spent going to Salt Lake Temple, shopping, visiting with friends and family.

August 6th Derek and I went to Mount Timpanogos temple and were sealed. We actually didn't get any pictures of us at the temple. Then off to the BBQ

Here is a picture of Me, Marlee, Ty's in the back around along with Seth's hands

After the BBQ Derek and I went and spent some time with his family. It was great to see everyone. Too bad it was a short visit.

Then it was time for Derek to get back to Alaska and I had 3 more weeks to Utah. After a tearful goodbye I headed up to Bear Lake.

My family rented a cabin up in bear lake. Usually there is lots of beach up there at the lake but it showed a lot and most beaches were under water. But we found want that was pretty fun. We rented a jet ski too.

After Bear Lake I said goodbye to all of my family except my brother. Then Gina had a baby shower and Tricia had a wedding reception. Which I thought I had some pictures but I guess I don't.
Then I spent a few days up near Login at Jenn's parents house. It was a nice time.

This picture of Bennett is from Lake Powell but he's Jenn's so I thought I would put it here.

Then we are off to Lake Powell for a week. I love going to Powell and it's great going with Gina and Jenn and their families. This trip was more low key I didn't do a whole lot of tubing and no attempting to ski this time. But it was great. I missed Derek a lot that week. I don't know how people go a lot time without their spouses.

While I was in Utah I went on a hike in Big cottonwood canyon with uncle Jerry, Tricia, Adam, and Matt.

Pictures from camping... About Time!!

2011-10-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Finally got some pictures from camping and hiking

Camping

2011-07-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

My niece Lexi has been here since June 27th so we decided to take her camping this past weekend. We went up to a place called Ward Lake, one of my co workers let us borrow a truck and a little boat. We found a great camping spot and set up camp. Our first day there our landlords came up to visit for a bit. After they left Lexi and I walked around the lake. The whole weekend we just mostly hung around camp. Derek loves to go camping so we are going to try to get out there more often.
I will be putting some pictures up soon

Hell has frozen over...

2011-04-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is Max, he is our landlord's golden retriever who likes to come visit us as often as we are outside. Everyone who know's my wonderful wife knows how much she dislikes dogs, so it was a risk renting a place with a large friendly dog.

this is Teana saying hello to HER friend Max. That's right, she likes Max, so much that she actually will play with the dog as documented in this short film.

Happy Anniversary!!

2011-04-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

A year ago today we got married. Crazy to think how fast this year has gone. Since we got married Derek has become a commercial Pilot and we have moved to Alaska. Derek also had a crazy work schedule so we didn't see a lot of each other. So we are glad we for all the time we have together now. As for what I did the first year of marriage was nothing too exciting. I just worked at a job I didn't really like. So when the chance to move came up I jumped at it. Anywhere but the place I was working. I don't like corporate businesses. Enough babbling

Anyway to celebrate our anniversary we are doing it low key. Derek brought me home some flowers last night.

Our presents to each other was our new phones and switching to AT&T. After church today we decided to drive north since we haven't been that way yet. We stopped at a Marina then we drove to the end of the road and walked around the beach for a bit. My goal today was to see a whale but that never happened. We did how ever see 4 seals. And have fun wandering around the beach.
Here are some pictures of our day

Pictures from Running

2011-04-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

When we first moved up here I told Derek no matter what I am going to try to get out of the house even when I don't want too. No for some reason I hate the rain it messes up you hair and makes you wet and dirty. But since it rains 90% if the time here I need to get over it.
So Tuesday it was raining a little bit but after 5 layers of shirts and 3 layers of pants I went out and took some pictures along the way. I have a Hill I have to climb up to get back home and it is a beast at least right now it is.

These are Pictures of my 2nd day of running. Before I went running on day 2 Derek and I went for a walk. I needed to take a break on day 3 because I couldn't move my legs. On day 2 going back up the beast of a hill I had to take a break half way up it.

The famous Totem Pole place is only a mile away from where we live so I ran to it. I should have ran up and looked around but I will leave that for another day.

The Apartment

2011-04-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here is where we are living. What most people would call a pool is actually how we get our water. Rain water is filtered and pumped into the house. It's actually quite tasty.

Our Saturday Adventure

2011-04-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

It was another rare sunny saturday in Ketchikan to Teana and I decided not to waste it. We grabbed our cameras and jumped in the car and headed south. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

Our First Week!

2011-04-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

We have survived our first week in Alaska. Which has been amazing so far. I have nothing bad to say.
After our great first day it just keeps getting better. Sunday we went to church and met a few people. Teana met Heizelle Jones who is part owner at a Spa; we talked for little bit and we were going to meet again Monday.
After church Derek had to caught his flight to Juneau till Tuesday. He had to fly up there to fill out paper work for his transfer.
Monday I meet with Heizelle and she offered me a job. I went back on Wednesday to give her a facial. Thursday I went back again to get a facial and Friday I just hung out meet the two other people I will be working with and kind of just learned out they did things.
Other then going to the Spa every day I unpacked the house and have done a lot of shopping and cleaning.
Derek's time in Juneau was uneventful, his paper work took about 2 hours maybe. But he had to stay till Tuesday morning then flew back.
After he got home Tuesday we got all pretty to go to the DMV. We had to take a written test which we both passed. The drivers licenses aren't the best pictures in the world but oh well.
Wednesday Derek had to fly to Petersburg for the day. Best way to describe what he did was kind of like a secret shopper for the TSA. He went to see if they knew how to do their jobs. And they passed.
Friday we got new phone numbers. Verizon doesn't work the best up here so we opted to go with AT&T which works a lot better.
All in all everyone out here has been so nice and helpful. The scenery is amazing. It is still unreal that we are living up here.
Pictures will be coming

Finally We Arrive in Ketchikan!!

2011-03-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

We had decided not to get a hotel room for a few hours and just sleep in the car. It sounded great on paper, not so good in theory. Having slept a little on the ferry derek wasn't tired and Teana was hungry. So after driving around a little but we discovered a diner that was open so we went in and had breakfast. We then drove to some of the apartments we were thinking about looking at. They looked ok. Then driving on the one road several times we stopped at airport parking lot and slept for 45 mins then I had to wait till 8 to call the one place we wanted to look at. We couldn't go look at it till 10 so with to 2 hours to wait we went to Walmart. Time came to look at the place for rent. We both liked it immediately and asked when we could move in. The guy said not till April 1st. The place we are renting is in the basement of a family who owns Seawind Aviation. He told Derek he was picky about who he rents to but he like Teana from the moment they started talking. What a nice guy. Steve (the guy we are renting from) talked to his wife and they actually let us move in that afternoon.
Derek and I were so excited to finally have a home and a place to unload our poor little car. By 5 pm the car was unpacked. They have a bed for us to borrow and we went and bought a couch that flips down into a bed. So we have a place for people to sleep when they come visit.
Another great thing about the day we arrived was NO Rain!!. It didn't start sprinkling until 10 pm.
Derek and I gassed up our car when we got on the Island and by the end of the day we had already driven 50 miles. Which doesn't seem like a lot but when you are on an island that pretty much uses 15 miles of road it's a lot.
We try not to ever go to Walmart as a rule but seeing as it is the only place to stop we went there at least 4 times in one day. Just to get things for our new place.

Day 8

2011-03-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Slept in till 8 am went and had our free breakfast then back on the road at 9 for our 4 hours left till Prince Rupert. Arrived at P.R. At 1 and had 5 hours to wait till we could board the ferry. Teana had to use the restroom so we parked our car and choose a restaurant that said sea food. Well we sit down and Teana asks where the bathroom was and the lady said it was out of order. So we order our food and Teana was just going to walk over to the hotel next-door. Teana walks over to the hotel and there is NO bathroom to use. Seriously don't these people need to ever go! Teana decided to wait. We are by the ocean so we pick clam chower for lunch. It was gross. It was manhattan clam chowder and tasted like it was from a can.
After lunch we ventured over to what they call a mall that had 6 stores in it. Then we drover down by the water to take some pictures.
At 4 we drove over to wait for our ferry there was nothing else to do. The Alaska Marine Highway opened up at 5 so we were able to get signed in early. Derek forgot our tickets and they had to bring them out.
We have driven 1835 miles to get to where we are right now. It has been a fun road trip! We spent the next couple hours waiting for the ferry and chatting with the locals. Very friendly people we met on the trip, I hope all the alaskans we meet are just as friendly. After a computer hiccup at customs we were able to board the vessel, we were the 2nd car on. After we parked we ran up to the galley to eat some highly over priced cafeteria food. We shall never again complain about the price of food in airports, ferry food was twice as much. We quickly discovered the "recliner lodge" and found a couple of chairs to hole up in. Shortly after the boat got underway we were both fast asleep, Derek in his chair and Teana curled up on the floor. It wasnt the best nights sleep we've had. The ferry arrived shortly after 3 am and we disembarked. This is where the fun began.

Us waiting to get on the Ferry it was cold outside.

The car in line for the Ferry. Good think we were at the front of the line.

We were the second car on the ferry

Day 7

2011-03-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

Day started at 5am finishing packing and saying goodbye we were on the road by 5:30. We drove north to Oak Harbor, got gas and continued off the island and toward Canada. In Birmingham we wanted to grab a last Wendy's breakfast and the trusty GPS got us right to one. It was around 7 when we pulled up and it looked closed so Teana jumped out of the car and checked what time they opened. Upon arrival back to the car she muttered "someone should let them know they serve breakfast, they dont open until 10" we decided that although Wendy has a tasty breakfast it wasn't worth waiting 3 hours for. We just kept driving
We made it to the border at 8:30 am. We made sure we had our passports and car info in hand. Derek was driving and the border patrol asked us basic border patrol questions then asked us to come inside for a little bit since Derek has never been and it has been 12 years since Teana has been. We are assuming they were doing back round checks on us. They didn't ask Teana a single question barely even glanced at her, but Derek had to go talk to them, they asked if he had ever been arrested and what his social was. Luckily 2 mins later they let us go. There must be some other Derek Isbell's out there with record.
Nothing too eventful happened after that. We drove 16 hours and Teana decided she was in the car long enough so we stopped for the night. We stopped in a small town called Smithers. It was an ok Inn with internet access and free breakfast at the restaurant next door.
Here are some pictures from our drive through Canada

Day 6

2011-03-29T22:39:00.000-07:00

Another day off. This trip has seemed more like a vacation than a move. Like a vacation with your car packed to the brim and a huge bag on the roof, but a vacation nevertheless. Amanda wanted to show us one of her favorite places so we drove out to hazardous bluff and spent some time walking around the beach. Then we had a craving for some chowder so we drove into Langley to a place mom liked only to find it closed for the day so we drove into Freeland to eat at Gerry's. We had some chowder and fish and chips. Then off to Fort Casey, we wandered around the old fort for about an hour climbing up and down old iron ladders and staircases until it was time to head back down to Clinton to pick up dinner. They wanted to take us to one of their favorite sandwich shops called Pickles. They really were great sandwiches. After dinner we had brownies and ice-cream. Teana got to give a few haircuts to Rosi, Amanda, and Derek. Then relaxed for the night. We decided to prepare for our drive into Canada, so we pulled out the passports and other various documents we thought we might need, but we couldn't find out Canadian insurance card we got from Geico a few weeks ago, Derek ripped the safe apart, checked the glovebox and other random places it might have been but to no avail, we didn't have it. Everyplace online said we needed to have it to cross into Canada. We found a local Geico agent in Oak Harbor but he didn't open unlit 9:30 and we wanted to be out the door at 5:30. We debated what to do, should we wait and get one or try to go and if they turn us around we head back down to Oak Harbor. We decided on the latter.

This is Amanda's spot she likes to go too.

Teana writting in the sand

Us on the beach

There was a light house at Fort Casey and we went up to the top. Teana climbing the stairs

Amanda, Derek and Rosi

Day 5

2011-03-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

Back on the road, since the trip to Freeland isn't very long we were able to sleep in and depart later than we had on other days. After saying goodbye and a quick stop at Starbucks to say bye to Marlee, we hit the road. We headed up to Coeur D' Alene to see another cousin. We stopped at Ryan's for about an hour then hit the road again and headed into Washington. Stopped for an early lunch at a random Italian joint then headed west. We didn't plan as well as wanted and ended up in Seattle near rush hour and with all the junk in the back this car is no fun to change lanes in. Lucky for us we got in the HOV lane and didn't have to exit for a long time. Another product of our poor planning was not thinking about the ferry. We knew there was going to be a ferry but we didn't plan on waiting for it, or even how to properly wait for it. As a result we may or may not have line cut (which there is a sign that says no cutting and a # to call and report people) and we still had to wait for an hour. Once we got on the ferry it was a quick jaunt over the channel and through the woods to mom's house we go. They had a tasty home cooked meal waiting for us. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting away the hours.

Us on the Ferry to Rosi's house

The ferry to Freeland

Day 4

2011-03-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

Take a break. Another day of no travel. We woke up to a misty rain and went out on the town. After a quick stop at Tri-state sporting goods for a few more coats we drove around Moscow and Pullman looking at the colleges and various sights around town. Then it was lunch time. We ate at an amazing Italian restraunt which name escapes me. After a very filling meal we headed back to the house for an afternoon of chatting and napping.
It was so good for visit Dave, Suzanne and kids. I wish we could have spent more time with them.

Day 3

2011-03-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Back on the road. Woke up to a nice dusting of snow on the car but the roads were clear and the snow disappeared as soon as the sun came up. The drive into Idaho was totally uneventful all the way up until Teana took the wheel to drive the windy roads up in northern Idaho. Everyone was driving so slow Teana started to name all the cars and a whole lot of yelling at the slow people. After being stuck behind "Sunday drivers" Teana finally broke free and we were able to drive the speed limit for the first time in a hour. Finally arrived at Dave and Suzanne's and sat down for a home cooked meal. We spend the rest of e evening relaiing and chatting.

There was snow on our car when we left Tyler's house.

Day 2

2011-03-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

After a restful night, thankfully today was scheduled as a no travel visit friends day. In the morning we just hung out with Tyler and family. This kids are so funny.
For lunch we split up, Derek went to have lunch with Kami, Krista and Kyle and Teana stayed at home with her family. She went to see Tyler play basketball and went on a walk with Louise and the kids. The night before Tyler had mentioned the idea of getting some space saver bags to compress the clothes in the cargo bag down and move some stuff from the back seat up to the roof so we could see out our back window. Taking his advice Ty and Teana went and grabbed a few and shrunk our clothes down. The idea sorta worked but only gave us a little window to see out of. Which we were grateful to see out a little bit.
After the repacking of the car we went into Murray to eat with Char, Kellen, Tara, Ben and Harmony. After a tasty dinner and wonderful time with friends it was time to head back to Tyler's for the evening, one quick stop to see Tricia and Adam then back down to Eagle Mountain for another evening. We stayed up and chatted with Tyler and Louise while Teana cut hair.

This is a picture of us and Derek's friend Tara

Day 1 of Drive to Alaska

2011-03-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come. Teana picked me up directly from the airport and the trip began. It hasn't felt like the 10+ hour drive, but that might just be because I have been passed out for a majority of the trip. After getting out first tank of gas we headed out of Phoenix and made for Las Vegas. We made good time only having to fill up once in Kingman.
We arrived in Vegas around 10, met with a few of Teana's friends from her mission days. We went to visit Brother Graham whom Teana taught the missionary discussions to and was later baptized. Then we went to the Distrubtion center to visit Sister Graham who was working. After that a quick visit into the Vegas temple to say hi to Sister Urry who was working as well. Then we meet up with Michelle and ate lunch, then crawled back into the car to head out again.
Made a brief stop in Cedar City to see the re-creation Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and hit the road again. After a quick refuel we met Cory, Sadie, Jason, Tricia and Adam for sushi in Lehi then off to Tyler's house to sleep in a actual bed for the first time in weeks. It was a fun visit with everyone glad that the first part was over. Onto more adventure tomorrow.
I forgot to take pictures with everyone.

Girls Night!!

2011-03-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tracey wanted to so something fun before we left so we had a Girls Night. She invited my sister in law Bekki and her kids. I'm glad we were able to get together one last time at least for awhile.
The night before Derek and I left we went over for pizza and hanging out. Derek went to work and we talked and painted our nails. The boys just played in the other room. Oh yeah us girls also go to play Candy Land. Bekki was the big winner.
At about 10 pm Bekki and the kids left to go home. Tracey got a new sofa bed so Stacia and I were going to sleep on it. It turned out everyone wanted to sleep with their favorite Aunt Teana before she moved to Alaska. So we got Quinton, Levi, Stacia and me on the sofa bed with Ike sleeping in a bed next too us. I waited till the kids fell asleep then went to a different bed. It was very hard to say good bye. Stacia asked me if I could drive back for her Birthday.

Me, Cassidy and Stacia

Bekki's kids were sad to see us go as well. Logan was going to miss Uncle Derek and Cassidy was going to miss me. Cassidy gave me a pillow pet before we left. It is the best thing to travel with when you want to sleep.

Cassidy was so mad Derek was using my pillow Pet

Extra Pictures

2011-03-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hyrum and Meaghan let us stay with them for a week before we moved. This was their living room. We thought we could fit all of that stuff in their living room in our car. I don't know what were were thinking because most of it we had to put in the storage unit.

Here is the storage unit. We thought we would have so much room left over but that thing is packed full.

Here is a picture of what the trunk looked like. I packed it two weeks before so we couldn't remember what was in there by the time we left.

Packing Day

2011-03-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come. After weeks of preparation we decided it was time to give the Borrego's back their living room. After putting things in storage, selling and throwing many items away we still had too much to fit into our tiny Mazda. So it was time to bear down and really get serious about this move. After Derek's successful check ride for school, now a certified commercial pilot in both multi and single engine aircraft, a quick final breakfast with our hosts the Borrego family We started sorting through our stuff for what seemed to be the fifteenth time. We decided to ship a large majority of boxes up to the post office box waiting for us. Still needed more room. So we decided to ship even more boxes, including our kitchen aid mixer. I am pretty sure that we will have end up spending hundreds of dollars in shipping costs. We finally seemed to get our stuff to a manageable level and began packing the car. Starting first with the roof bag we stuffed it full of clothes... All our clothes. If this bag decides to part ways with the car we will be without anything to wear but a few pairs of pants and shirts. After beating the bag closed we moved onto the back seat. After what seemed to be hours this is what we came up with.

Look how weighed down our little car is.

And here is the inside poor car

Alaska

2011-03-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ever since Derek and I started dating he has told me he wanted to live in Alaska. I was always told him I would never move up there I need to see the sun every day. He would bring it up occasionally and I would always respond the same way.

Well the lord must have been softening my heart for the past year because around Christmas time he call me up and said there are a few transfers up in Alaska. Then he goes right into what a great opportunity this transfer would be. Then he starts talking about the town we would move to, because he knows I wouldn't want to live in cold weather.

To Derek's and my surprise I actually said yes to moving to Alaska. Really why not right. Other then missing our family we really have no reason to go. Derek put his papers in on Christmas day and on Jan 26th they gave him a call. Derek said he couldn't transfer till May. When they called him up they said he needed to report March 27th and he said OK.

That day we started preparing our move. And we have been packing ever since. I'm glad I had such a long time to start packing.

We're starting our drive to Ketchikan on March 18th. Lucky for me Ketchikan isn't what people typically think of Alaska. It barely snows up there. They haven't had any snow this winter. It rains a lot though. The sun rises and sets every day. In the winter they only have 7 hours of sunlight though which is still normal. It is a small down of 7-8 thousand and all the cruise lines stop there. They get about a million visitors a year.

I think it is going to be a fun adventure for us. We are very excited and can't wait to get up there.

Come visit!!

7 months

2010-11-09T22:11:00.001-08:00

I haven't had an update in awhile. We will be married for 7 months tomorrow. So far it's been great :)
Derek is still in flight school and that's going really well. He should finish up in February. He started his new shift at work which is an over night one. So I will try to fill my time with work and friends.
We have become a boring married couple so nothing too exciting to report. I will try to be better.

Pictures of NY

2010-08-07T22:06:00.001-07:00

Me at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Met up with Gina and Jared at the Hill Cumorah Pageant

High School friends we haven't all been together in 12 years. Jelena, Kristen, Toni and I

At the reception in NY

Derek, Jared, Megan and I and I have Vanessa on my shoulders

Derek and I in the Cave

Greg, Vanessa, Derek and I in Howe Caverns

NY

2010-08-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Derek and I went to NY in July. We were having out NY wedding reception on July 17th. We flew out on the 13th. My parents picked us up. The first stop was The Pizza Shack then off to my parents house. They live in the middle of no where. We did a little painting that night then a midnight trip to Wal-Mart. That is pretty much the only thing to do in that town. Wal-Mart is the place to be.
The next day Jared and Megan (Derek's brother) came up from CT. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thursday we woke up early for and headed to Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and see the sights. I picked up Greg Todd and his oldest daughter Vanessa from the airport and we meet up with Gina and Jared. Derek's mom flew into town that day as well.

Friday we went to Howe Caverns. It is an under ground Cave.

Saturday was the big day. It was a lot of fun. Gina and Jared came down from Syracuse, lots of people from my ward growing up and a few friends from high school came. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was a day of relaxing and hanging out. Jared and Megan left and lots of other family members.

Monday morning we brought Greg and Vanessa to the airport. It was so fun to spend time with them. Even though Greg's wife just had their 3rd daughter a couple weeks earlier. Derek's mom left as well. Then we went to go spend some time with my best friend from high school Kristen. And then off to the McLaughlins for a bit.

Tuesday we had to say goodbye to my family. It was a great trip back home. Some day we will move back to the eat coast.

Getting older

2010-05-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Derek turned 30 on Friday. His (our) friends Courtney and Tavia were in town so we went out to dinner with them. Before that I took Derek to the shooting range.
We haven't been for awhile and we are both out of practice. It was nice when we had memberships. Maybe some day.
But on Monday we had a little party for Derek some of his friends came over and Tracey and her family.
2 of Tracey's kids gave Derek presents. He got a toy airplane from Quinton. I don't remember what kind of plane it is. Then Isaac made him a gold medal. When Derek asked him what the medal was for his response was "for being my uncle." I thought that was so cute. Those kids sure do love their uncle Derek. Stacia just wanted to jump on him for his birthday.

Speaking of getting older I had lunch with someone I haven't seen in 12 years. A friend from high school was in town this weekend and wanted to get together. We met up yesterday for some brunch. It was great to see Marcia. It is getting me excited to see all my friends while I am in NY.

Other then that life is great. Derek is going to take his test to become a Private Pilot on June 9th. I am excited for him.
So if anyone needs to be flown somewhere he can do it.

Wedding Pictures

2010-05-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen the wedding pictures yet and would like to take a look. Here is a link to where they are at.

http://web.mac.com/starman2112/ramblings/Wedding_Pictures.html

Gile Valley Temple

2010-05-08T10:19:00.001-07:00

On Monday night Derek and I went down to Safford to go to the Gile Valley open house. It was the first time I have gone to a temple open house. If that is what you call it. It was so beautiful. It's a small temple.
We had a great time. It was great to visit Derek's sister Colleen and her family and we got to see Courtney and Tavia too.
We can't wait until after the temple is dedicated so we can attend next time we visit.

Honeymoon... Cambria California

2010-04-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Derek and I decided to go to Cambria, California for our honeymoon. Derek use to vacation here as a kid. We decided to drive there. It took 10 hours to get there but the drive went fast and was very pretty. We drove up highway 1 up the coast. So beautiful. We left at 5 am on Sunday morning then drove back Wednesday morning.

Our foot prints in the sand...I know we are cheesey

Elephant Seals....In April they Molt which means they shed their skin

Married....Finally

2010-04-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

April 10th finally arrived. Derek and I got married at 11 am that morning. It was a beautiful day. Everything turned out perfectly. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Derek's watching me walk down the asile

Bridal picture

Dad and I walking down the asile

Just Married

me and uncle Dave

Roommates

Showing some leg

cutting the cake

2 Weeks!

2010-03-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

I will be getting married in 2 weeks. I can't believe it is finally here. So much has been happening. I don't know how people love to plan weddings. I am not a fan of it but things need to get done. So my friend Maeghan has been giving a to do list to make sure everything gets done. Which has been a big help.
I work for a company called Beauty Brands and I'm doing hair for them at the moment. Derek has started flight school this last week which has kept him pretty busy. He has to shave off his beard for school but they are actually letting him keep it until we get married.
Anyway I haven't updated in awhile. I can't wait to see some people in a couple of weeks. It is going to be so fun.

Valentines Day and Wedding Updates, ect...

2010-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is the first year I have ever gotten anything for Valentines Day. Derek asked me if it was ok if he didn't get me anything and I told him that was fine. I didn't need anything. But when I got home from work Derek had made me dinner, had flowers for me and some chocolate. But we had to put the chocolates in the freezer. We are going to go another month with no sugar. It will be a good treat for later.

As with the wedding. We have FINALLY got things in order. We are getting married April 10th at 11:00 am then we will have the reception from 12-2:30 pm in the same facility. I don't have an exact address yet but it is in Gilbert, AZ and the cross roads are Power and Pecos.

Oh another new thing is I got a new job at a company called Beauty Brands. I am doing hair again. I have been working there for a couple of weeks now and it has been so fun. I have been busy. Officially I only work 3 days a week but they actually have me coming in more days then that.

Getting things done

2010-01-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

What a week I have had. Last Friday Tracey called me up and suggested I start looking for a wedding dress soon. So the next day we ventured out to 3 different stores in the morning and David's Bridal in the evening. One of the stores in the morning was called Suzanne's Bridal. I saw a dress there I really liked. But I wanted to go to David's before I made any decisions. After trying on a few dress I really liked their I had a big decision on my hands. What dress did I really want?
I slept on it then in the morning I knew what I wanted. i was going to purchase the one for Suzanne's. The day I went back to purchase the day I had about a half hour before I hope so I walked into a floral shop. Man who knew that flowers were so expensive. The women suggested I flip through some magazines before I decide on the bouquet.
Another big thing that happened this week was Derek and I signed a lease on our apartment. He moves in on the 25th and at the end of the month I move in with Tracey. She is such a great sister. She gets to put up with me for a couple of months before I get married. This will be the 3 or 4 time she has let me live with her and her family. I will try not to get in anyones way and spend a lot of time at mine and Derek's apartment.
Oh another thing that I got to do this week is spend a day with my soon to be mother in law. It was fun getting to know her a little better. We talked a lot about wedding stuff and she helped me get a little more organized. She has done this a few times.
There is so much to do!

Less then 100 Days!

2010-01-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. So I have 98 days until I get married. I can't believe it. Last January Derek and I started dating.

This past year has been so much fun. I spent a lot of time having going on lots of vacations. I was able to go to Utah twice there is to spend time with family and friends. Once in January then again in May.

After that in June I used my passport for the first time to go to Cancun with Jenn. We had a lot of fun snorkeling and just relaxing.

In July Derek and I went up to his families cabin. We went on a couple little hikes and hung out with his friends and family.

Then we had a awesome trip to Lake Powell in August. I love that place. Derek got to meet some of my friends. It was a great trip.

Then in November I got engaged.

As fun as 2009 has been I am excited for the upcoming year. These first few months are going to be busy getting ready for the wedding. Then a quick honeymoon to California and a week spent in NY in July. Hopefully another trip to Lake Powell.

I hope everyone has a great year!

Christmas Time

2009-12-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Derek and I decided to go down to his sister Colleen's house for Christmas. She lives about 3 hours away. We left on Wednesday after Derek got out of work.
It is so fun to go down there and just hang out.
In my family all the siblings rotate who we are giving a present to. This year I had Tanya and I gave her the game Wizard. If you have never heard about it you should look it up. It is a fun card game. Tracey had me this year and I got the best present ever. She made me a pan of lasagna it was seriously the best ever. Every Christmas Eve my family has lasagna for dinner. I was planning on make some when I went down to Colleen's house. Now my dilemma was do I make my own or take my present down with me. I decided to take my present down. Along with the lasagna I make some sauce and meatballs. Derek and Ben made some bread sticks.
I don't mean to brag but dinner was so good. After that we just hung out and talked. Christmas Day started out with present opening then we had the best breakfast.
After breakfast we watched Star Trek I really like the movie.
It was a good Christmas. I am always sad to leave the Murphy's house But we had to leave last night so Derek could go to work this morning.
Merry Christmas Everyone

A Date is Finally Set

2009-12-12T12:10:00.001-08:00

Derek and I have finally set a date for our wedding. We are getting married on April 10, 2010. I can't wait
I hope everyone is able to make it.
We are still planning on having our wedding reception in New York in July on the 17th. If you want to come up there is lots to do in NY and you can even go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It starts on July 9 the other dates are the 10 then 13-17th.
If I don't have you address and you are reading this I need it.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year. Derek and I decided to have dinner at my house this year and we ended up inviting my sister Tracey and her family and Derek's sister Bekki and her family. There were 8 kids and 6 adults. Lots of fun.
The day started with breakfast at 9:30. We made little pancake puffs, baked french toast, eggs and bacon. Hyrum (Derek's Land Lord) Tracey, Troy and the kids came over.
After breakfast the kids stayed to play while Tracey went home to bake the turkey and the stuffing. We started making our part of the dinner.
It was so fun and tiring to make Thanksgiving day food. No wonder people wake up at 5 am or sooner to get started.
It was a really fun day.

Me cooking

Derek made all 3 pumpkin pies. One was made with real pumpkins it tasted really good. I made the chocolate pie. Derek's niece made the other pies. Then look at all the food in the back ground. Yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

Like the apron Derek chose to wear while baking the pies. Don't worry he didn't wear it around the kids.

YES!!!

2009-11-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

Derek asked me to marry him last night. And of coarse I said YES. It was great. I really thought I was going to have to wait a few more days.
We went for a little drive and ended up at the Temple. We have been going there about once a week for the past month. I just thought it was another one of those days. After we were walking for awhile we stopped to talk for a bit. Next thing I know he has the ring in his hand and is asking me to marry him. Of coarse I started crying and gave him a YES I will marry you.
I just think Derek is so amazing and I can't wait to be married to me. We have a lot of fun together.
Tracey's kids have been calling him Uncle Derek for the past month and brake out into the Teana and Derek sitting in a tree song every time they see us.

We haven't set a day yes. We just keep saying sometime this summer. We will let everyone know when we set a date.

Here is a pictures of my Ring on me :)

This is the picture Derek took to show his family and friends

My Crazy Saturday

2009-10-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

I want to tell you about this past Saturday it isn't fun and is at the same time. My sister Tracey and Troy were asked to go on their stake Trek.
They left Thursday morning around 4am. Then Derek came over around 9:30 to pick up the kids and bring them to their aunts house 4 hours away. Derek didn't even get one hour in until one of the kids threw up. He was a champ about it though. He pulled over and cleaned it up, then continued on with the journey.
Well my job was to work and feel the animals while they were gone. Easy enough you would think.
Thursday went fine, Friday went as planned. Saturday just started off chaotic I woke early to bring JoAnn to the airport then rushed home to get ready for work and run to my sisters to feed the animals.
As I go out the back door most of the chickens are out of the coup so I try to feed the dog and was surprised that none of the chickens were coming after to dog food so I look over at them. They were pecking at something so I walk over to see what they were eating. And then I freak out the chickens are pecking at a dead chicken. The only thing left of this bird is the head, wings and I think the lungs.
I was so grossed out but I knew I couldn't leave this bird there. Derek tells me to check the dog to see if he had blood on him. So I go over to the dog and he was so excited I was going to pet him he PEED all over me. Yeah that is right the dog peed on me. I was so mad.
Here I have a dead chicken and the dog is peeing on me. So I get control of myself put the chicken in a bag and threw it away. Got the dog back outside and I was now on my way to work with 5 mins to get there.
As I drove down the road I see a dead cat in the middle of the road. It looks like Magic my sisters cat. I lost it I started balling. The thoughts running threw my mine were "you have got to be kidding me is anything else going to die"
So I drive back to the house look in everyone room for the cat calling out her name and I can't find her. So I grab a trash bad and went to scrap the dead cat off the road while crying the whole time.
That night after I get out of work Derek and I go back to make sure no more animals die before they get home. I checked the house for Magic one more time. She wasn't there. As we walk out of the back yard there are no chickens in sight. I started freaking out thinking that someone stole all the chickens so I walk over to the coup before I start really freaking out and their they all are. What a relief to know everyone was still alive.
Then we took the dog for a walk and went back home.
Tracey called me 10 mins later and she was like umm Magic isn't dead she is outside the door. Magic was outside waiting for them when they got home. I couldn't believe it.
I was glad that the cat was alive, but annoyed I cried over someone else dead cat and picked it up and put it in a trash bag. Sick!
What a day. And I am very glad I don't have any animals

Sometimes you shouldn't take me out in public

2009-10-13T14:14:00.001-07:00

So the other day I was at Albersons and I wanted to grab something for dinner. I had 3 items in my had. There were 3 lanes open all 3 lanes had lots of people in them. I was one of the last people in the 3rd lane.
Well the 4th lane opened up and the cashier announces next person in like please some to this lane. Well I was in a hurry (or like to think I was)so I was over to the other lane it will take me not even a min. The guy 2 people a head of me sees me walk over then and he says very loudly..."You are not the next person in line"
I couldn't let this go, so I scream haha not talk loudly like him but I scream..."Well you aren't even walking"
The cashier just pretends like that is a normal thing and continues on with her work.
As I am walking out to my car because my purchase only took 15 sec I start laughing to myself. Did I really just scream at some guy in a grocery store. Yes yes I did.
Sorry if I embarrass you guys in public.

Trip to Safford, AZ

2009-10-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last month Derek and I went down to Safford, AZ to visit. His sister Colleen and her family live down there. Also one of his friends returned home from her mission. It was a quick trip. We left after I got out of work Saturday night. it is a 3 hour drive. Then the next day was spent visiting his friends and family. Since we were decked out in our church clothes I thought I would get a nice picture of us.

Lake Powell

2009-09-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

I love Lake Powell. I get to go every year with some of my old roommates. This year I got to bring Derek with me. He got to meet Gina, Jenn and Sadie.
It was so fun just relaxing on the houseboat. We went tubing, went on the canoe, and kayaked. I of coarse had to attempt water skiing for the 4 or 5 year. I almost have it. I actually got up for a second this time but feel down right away. My biggest problem with water skiing is I don't hold on.

Derek and I left Tuesday afternoon to drive up to Lake Powell. We camped out that night. I got to use my tent for the first time. It was easy to put up. Then Wednesday morning we got up and ready to get on the boat that was supposed to come at 9am but Gina forgot to tell everyone who was waiting for the boat that it wasn't coming till 10:30.
We played lots of card games, swam a lot and got to sleep under the stars.
I hope I get to go again next year.

Pictures to come

The Head

2009-08-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows I went to cosmetology school and I have a head left over from it. We I lived in Utah we use to scare people with it.
Well since I have moved to AZ I have scared a couple of my roommates with it by putting it in their beds when they are going to sleep. Haha it is pretty funny.
I took it over to Derek's house to scare his roommates which we had some fun with it. At one point Hyrum hung it from the ceiling right in front of Derek's door. I guess it scared him pretty good.
We decided to bring the head up to the cabin with us. The first night we were there his sister brought her son and his friend with them.
Ben's friend was a cocky 15yr old boy but in the woods he was so scared haha. So since he was already scared I decided to scare him a little more.
I put the head on top of the truck on his side so he would see it when he got in.
We sent the boys out the the truck to get something and they freaked out. Well Ben's friend freaked out. It was pretty funny. I wish I was outside to hear him.
After that we just put it so it would stare out the window at people.

Pictures from Mount Graham

2009-08-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

Us driving up to the cabin

Derek trying to start a fire with sticks. He got it to smoke :)

This was the cub that got caught in the trap

Mount Graham

2009-08-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Derek and I just got back from a little trip up to the mountains. Derek's mom owns a little cabin up there so we decided to take a few days and go up.
We got up there Wednesday night and just unpacked all of our stuff. I don't know why I always over pack. Which sister Colleen and her family came up to hang out and play games with us. Derek's friend Kami also came up. We just spent the night playing games and talking.
The next day we got up and went on a little hike around the cabin area. That after noon the ranger stopped by the cabin to tell us that there was a bear trap by cabin 50 so we needed to be careful.
After lunch we decided to go check out the bear trap. It was just a huge white barrel with some food in it and a trap door.
We decided to drive up the mountain a little farther. Derek's family use to camp up in Hospital flats when they were younger. And Derek and I actually camped up there almost 11 years ago
(funny huh)
When we got up to Hospital Flats there was a trail we walked on for awhile. It was fun just to get out and see nature.
After walking on the trail for awhile we decided to head back to meet up with more of Derek's friends.
As we were preparing dinner we thought we heard the trap door shut. They actually caught a bear while we were up there.
We didn't really think about it because that was when Countney and his wife Tavia showed up. As we were eating out dinner on the pourch. Good thing we decided to go on the pourch because a skunk decided to come see what we were doing. It came all the way to the stairs then decided to turn around. Good thing it wonder away. We saw the skunk a couple more times that night.
After dinner Kami came back up with one of her friends and we just spent the night playing games again.
Our last day up at the cabin everyone must have been tired from playing games because we all slept in. After breakfast we went on a little walk down to the bear trap sure enough the door was closed and there was a little black bear cub in it.
We had a lot of fun up there. I definitely want to do it again.

Melting Pot

2009-07-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

This picture is kind of gross looking but it is the only one Derek took. For the entree (which this is) we had the mojo style. It was pretty tasty.

I haven't been doing anything overly exciting since I got back from Cancun. Derek decided he was going to take me to the Melting Pot. I like the Melting Pot so I was pretty excited to go.
I made him get a little dressed up to go. The night we went it was all bottomless. We didn't even use the bottomless option though. Everything was pretty taste.
It was Derek's first time going and he really enjoyed it.
I think next time we go we will just go for the Cheese and/or Chocolate. Yumm!!!

Pictures From Cancun

2009-06-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

Jenn relaxing

beautiful night

review from out room

Me relaxing

Jenn and I at the airport

Cancun Day 4/Utah

2009-06-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last day in Cancun. I am ready to go home. I think a 4 day 3 night stay is perfect. Enough time to relax, at least for me it is.
We woke up around 8:30 and started packing because we had to check out by 12:00 and our transportation was coming at 1. We wanted to sit on the beach for a couple of hours.
After packing we went to breakfast. Then off to the beach to lay in the sun and read. We did that for 2 and a half ours. We jumped in the pool once.
There was this guy that we saw for the past 2 days that he wore a very see through white speedo. Seriously there was nothing you couldn’t see. He might has well have went nude.
And we got to chat with a nice couple that just got there. They were asking us where there were good places to eat. Haha Which that is the one thing we had a hard time with.
After check out we just lounged around reading and waiting for our van to pick us up. Then off to the airport. We sat in the airport for 2 hours after we got through check point.
We got first class again which was really nice. We had a steak dinner. I just read and talked the whole flight. I wanted to sleep but that never happened.
Finally we landed in Salt lake and we had to go through customs which didn’t take long at all.
Jess was supposed to have Jenn’s car so she was supposed to pick us up. Well there was no word from Jess so Jenn called her father in law and had him come pick us up. 5 mins before he came Jenn had the thought that oh would if Jess didn’t pick up the car like she said she would. She is very flake so that could happen.
After Al drove all the way out to get us we had him just drive us by where she parked just to be sure the car wasn’t there. Sure enough there it was. We made Al drive all the way out to get us because we thought Jess had the car. Jenn was so pissed. It was just very irresponsible of someone to do that. If it was set up to take the car and come pick us up you would think you would say something if the plans changed. If we knew the car was there we would have been home about an hour earlier.
Since we had to wait for Al then drive then change cars we were going to stop and get something to eat on the way home. Because of all that everywhere we went it was all closed. We went to 5 different places and they all closed at 9. We finally settled on MacDonalds. Yummy haha
After that we just visited with Sue then went to sleep.

It is now the next day and I am sitting in the airport and I can’t wait to get home. It was a nice/fun vacation. I’m glad Jenn and I got to go to Cancun and spent some time with each other. It is always fun hanging out with Jenn.
Good times, lots of laughs and lots of silly things said. 

Cancun Day 3

2009-06-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

I slept in until 9 which was really nice. I think I got 11 hours of sleep. We then went down for breakfast. We have kind of figured out what to eat and what not to.
After breakfast we went to find out the best way to get to some shops to buy souvenirs. We asked the Best Day company, they told us to take the public bus which is only 1 dollar. And the bus comes every min.
So Jenn and I decided to try out this little adventure and see what happens. I know Kelly was concerned that I would be too adventurous for his pregnant wife so I hope I don’t get in trouble from Kelly for this.
I don’t usually drive on public transportation but why not. We went down to the little shopping center and got some souvenirs. The bus ride to and from was not bad at all. They actually have a very good system.
After shopping for a little bit we came back to the hotel and got some lunch.
After lunch we did a little reading then off to our massages.
Jenn and I got to be in the same room for our massage. I forgot how good it felt to get a massage. I need to do that more often.
Jenn didn’t really care for her massage. Because she’s pregnant they are a little more careful with her and she can’t lay on her stomach.
After the massages we just laid around the beach reading books. It kept raining on and off today. Not too much sun.
Dinner was actually fun. They had an authentic Mexican buffet outside by the beach. With a Mariachi band and an electric bull to ride. The food was pretty good. After dinner with walked out to the beach and as their and read our books until the sun went down. Then we went back and listened to the band play.
The entertainment for tonight was Mayan dancing. It kept our interest for about 30 mins. They showed some pretty neat things but the presentation was aweful. They spent way to long on the same thing.
3 things that are really funny I forgot to mention.

Yesterday we went to use a public rest room and I guess I forgot to lock the door to mine because a lady walked in on me. Luckily I was just zipping up my pants. Today we were using a public rest room again and someone old lady walked in on Jenn. Haha I just think it is funny. I guess we should lock the door while we are in the public rest rooms.

Today while we were riding the elevator coming up to our room the door opened and Jenn got out. Then I was supposed to walk out but I got distracted looking for our room key. Apparently if you don’t get out of the elevator right away it shuts the doors fast and brings you down to the lowest level. Haha it wouldn’t let me out I wasn’t fast enough. So I had to ride all the way down to the bottom then come back up. I had the room key so Jenn had to wait for it. It was very funny.

This morning while we were using the public bus we had to walk across the street and walk a ways to get to the bus stop. Forever one that knows me I get a little paranoid sometimes and freak out. So I was freaking out a little on the inside thinking we were going to have to walk forever to get to a bus stop. Well we crossed a street where there was a light. So we walked a little ways and I look back and there is a bus stopped. I was like look Jenn at the bus there is a bus stop back there we just pasted. She started laughing at me and was like yeah that bus is stopped at the light. Haha Silly me.

Cancun Day 2

2009-06-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

We were kind of nervous to try breakfast because of yesterdays experience. But we went to the buffet and it was tolerable. Haha not the best.
This is our second day in Cancun. We booked a snorkeling trip at 7:30 in the morning. Which ended up being a great time and day to go. We only had 16 people on our tour. They said they usually have about 100 people. The tour was good we saw lots of fish. There was this huge school of fish just chillin in the same spot for about an hour. We also saw some with lots of color, ones that had long noses, kind of looked like a sword fish. We saw a sting ray it started moving toward us and Jenn and I freaked out and started swimming fast. Another thing we got to see was a fuzzy start fish. I got to hold it and it was moving all over the place. Pretty cool.

Jenn and I kind of got away from our group for a little bit and as we were trying to caught up to them I got lost in some coral and almost had a run in with it. If I kept going the way I went I would have been scraping up against it. Not a good move. But it was pretty cool to see all the different types of coral and things that live on it.
We swam in 2 different spots. The first place was only 4 to 7 feet. Then the 2nd place we went was 10 to 25 feet. Other then the one place I got stuck.
After snorkeling we came back to the hotel and had lunch at the buffet. It was good. Maybe the hotel was just having a bad day with the food yesterday. Because through out the day we were listening to people converse about the food and everyone kept talking about the seafood place we hated. They people we were eavesdropping on all loved it and it was 2 different conversations we heard. We were a little shocked to hear people say that the food was divine (as one guy put it).
And the place that we are trying tonight (the Mexican food) the people didn’t like it. We are hoping they are wrong.
After lunch we got ourselves some virgin Pina colada and sat on the beach reading our books and laying out. We did take dip in the pool a couple of times.
After laying on the beach all day Jenn and I decided to try the Mexican place for dinner. It was actually pretty good. It was so good we are going to go back tomorrow for lunch.
After dinner we went back to the beach to sit/talk and read some more.
Then we went to check out the entertainment for the might. It was Karaoke tonight. We lasted through a song and a half then left. We don’t know which was worse tonight or last nights entertainment.
I am so tired and it’s only 9:30 we are going to relax in the room and go to bed.

Cancun Day 1

2009-06-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

My day started out very early. I had to be at the airport at 4:30 in the morning and didn’t want to ask anyone to bring me that early. So since Derek has to be at the airport at 2:30 I thought I would just catch a ride with him.
I needed to be at Derek’s house by 1:45 in the A.M. so Derek could get to work on time. My flight wasn’t until 6:30 so I had 4 hours to sit around the airport. I played on my computer until it was time to board my plane.
Once I was on the plane I fell asleep the whole hour and 10 min flight. After getting off the plane in Salt Lake I meet up with Jenn.
Jenn and I scored first class seats on the flight to Cancun. First Class was awesome. It was my first time. They offered us champagne at 10:00 in the morning. I thought that was funny. Our seats were big and cozy. We got glass cups and a hot towel. The guy across from us used his hot towel to clean around his neck, face and also to clean out his ears. It was pretty gross to watch him.
We also got lunch on the plane. We had a choice between steak and chicken fettuccine. Jenn got steak and I got the pasta. They were both surprisingly good. Then we got our choice of what ever new release we wanted to watch and after the movie I played a few games on the tv.
Finally after a 4 and a half hour plane ride (which I didn’t sleep at all) we arrived in Mexico. My first time using my passport. The customs line was pretty long but went fast.
We scheduled a transportation bus to bring us to our hotel. The system they have for the buses is actually pretty good. Other then the fact it took them forever to find out names. After a 20 min ride we finally arrived at Oasis Palms.
It didn’t look like a bad hotel. Our check in went pretty quick then we had to check in with the Best Day (transportation company) so we could schedule our ride back to the airport.
We then set up a time to go snorkeling tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning. Then we set up a massage for Monday afternoon. Other then those 2 things we will sit on the beach and venture around the hotels.
Our room isn’t the best but it will do.
Then comes the fun. Haha. It is now 6:30 and we decided we were hungry, since we are in an all inclusive hotel we get our meals for free. We decided to have seafood tonight. Seeing as we are literally right next to the ocean it would be great. We were soooo very wrong.
Since our meal was free we had a 4 coarse meal. We started off we coconut fried shrimp and fried calamari. How can you go wrong with those? Well they did not taste very good. Our next coarse was soup. We got Mango Ravioli soup and Curry Seafood soup. We had maybe 3 bites of each. Not the best.
Now comes the main coarse, Jenn got salmon and I got sea bass I had never had it before. It was the worse meal we had all day. The sea bass just tasted like oil. Very deep fried. Jenn’s salmon was so fishy you could hardly eat it. I know salmon is a fishy but this was gross. And I like fish. We only had 2 bites of it and decided to try the dessert out.
We ordered cheesecake and (we actually couldn’t understand what it was) He said either almond or apple cake. Haha That was pretty good. It had some kind of alcohol in it. The cheesecake was not so good.
I don’t know very many people who walk away from a 4 coarse meal still hungry.
After that we decided to walk around a little bit more because we were waiting for the entertainment show to start. We found a buffet and since we were still hungry we thought we would check it out. Umm lets just say I think we are going to struggle with the food down here. It wasn’t the best.
I don’t think Jenn and I are that picky of eaters but for some reason we had a not so satisfying day with the food.
Finally it is time for the entertainment show. They have a theme every night. Tonight was supposed to be International night we think haha. Oh my goodness it was so bad. It was a very bad episode of “So you think you can dance”. We left after 15 mins.
We just came back to the room so we can rest up for our next adventures.
I just hope tomorrow is just as good, maybe even better.

Derek's Birthday

2009-05-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me eating the corn dog. He had to capture the moment for you Gina :)

It was Derek's birthday on Thursday and he doesn't really care for birthday so I wanted to make sure he had a good one.
I like to celebrate birthdays for more then just that day. So the celebrations started on Monday when we had a BBQ with some of his friends. The celebrating actually started when I took him to Flight of the Conchords the week before.
Thursday was his actual birthday so I let him sleep and got to his house at 11. The present I
bought him was night sights for his gun so we went to get them installed. Which was a nightmare in its self. I spent a week trying to find someone to install them. If anyone wants to learn a trade, become a gunsmith. There aren't very many out there.
After the night sights were installed we were off to the mall to go to Boarders Books and to get a corndog.
Derek knew I would do anything for him on his birthday. Knowing I have never had a corn dog and didn't really ever care to have one in my life he wanted me to try one for his birthday. That and he also teased me about spending the day watching Lord of the Rings knowing I never want to watch that.
He was teasing about the movie and totally serious about the corn dog. That is what he wanted for this birthday. So we went to Hot Dog on a Stick and he bought one. I had a couple of bites. It was alright nothing I would ever buy myself or probably ever eat again.
After that we went swimming at my house then went back to his house to play a game he got for his birthday.
I went upstairs to his room and was walking around the room for a little while before I realized I stepped in dog poop. If you have read my blog before you should know I did this at his house when we first started dating. haha
I was so mad. I start yelling at him from upstairs. He finally came up stairs and I made him clean it up. He was so mad at me for not watching where I walk. Happy Birthday to him.
But seriously when you are in a house why would you have to watch were you are walking. I couldn't believe I did that again.
After that we went to dinner with some of his friends and played games.
It was a great Celebration

Night of Surprises

2009-05-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Derek's birthday is coming up next week so I wanted to so something for him. He likes Flight of the Conchords so a week and a half ago I bought us tickets to go see them.
I'm not very good at keeping surprises but since he doesn't like surprises I thought I would surprise him. It wasn't very fun on my part. Well the waiting to give him the tickets. I don't like waiting to tell someone about a surprise. I usually just give/tell it to the person right away.
Like his original birthday present I bought in March. But I have actually made him wait to get that present. I got him night sights for his gun.
Back to Flight of the Conchords. I told Derek we were going to go on a double date with JoAnn (roommate). Then go to Tempe town lake.
After work yesterday I went over to his house and I sent a message to twitter saying I was going to surprise my boyfriend with ticket to FC. With full intentions of being there when he read it. So I sent the message as I was walking up the stairs but Hyrum (his roommate) didn't know so he started talking to me, that lasted a little longer then I wanted.
As I went into his room he had already read it and was like "You do know I got that message because it goes to my phone"
Even thought I wasn't there to see the reaction he was pretty excited about going to FC.
We decided to go out to eat at Pita Jungle. I love that place. Then we went to will call to pick up the tickets.
As we were standing there Derek is looking at the paper I printed out and asked what Latino Vibe was? I just glanced at it and was like oh I don't know.
Then it's my turn to get my tickets and they CAN'T find them. We had to stand there for about 5 mins then this lady walks out and was like you don't have tickets to FC. You have tickets for Saturday night for Latino Vibe. I was like I don't know how I got to that I thought I bought tickets to FC.
The whole time I was thinking in my head ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This stuff always happens to me. I don't know how that happened because I was on the thing for FC.
I didn't realize this but on the paper it says no Refund. But I did ask the lady for a refund and she said she would give me one. Then I asked if there were any seats left for FC.
After standing there shocked for a min thinking I totally ruined the night we went to see what type of tickets were left. As I was about to buy the tickets 2 great seats opened up. So I saved myself 45.00 dollars and got way better seats then I intended.
The night actually turned out great.
FYI don't every let me buy tickets if we ever go to an event haha.
Just one more thing for him to tease me about. It's right up there with our Sedona trip.

Family Time!!

2009-05-05T11:04:00.001-07:00

My parents flew into town 2 weeks ago so we have had a lot of family time. After spending 5 days with my parents in Utah we went up to Utah to spend more time with my brother, his family, parents and my sister.
Tracey and I drove up to Utah last Wed. The 4 kids were great on the 12 hour drive up. Then we hung out with the family for a few days. I got to see some of my friends and even managed to get my hair cut while I was up there.
I finally bought a camera the other day so I will be taking more pictures

My Photograph

2009-03-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

This week is a week full of Art. The newest addition is a Photograph from Derek. He took this a few months ago while he was in California. I loved it the moment I saw it. He is a great photographer. I just thought I would share his talents with everyone.
I hope to add to my collection soon.

My Painting

2009-03-24T23:43:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I asked Chelsie to make me a painting. All I told her was I wanted it abstract. This is what I got yesterday. I love it. If anyone would like Chelsie to paint them something I will give you her contact information. She gives great deals.
Thanks Chelsie!

I forgot to mention

2009-03-17T10:39:00.001-07:00

My brother called me yesterday sounding a little annoyed about my recent posts about my birthday.
The newest addition to his little family was brought into the world on my Birthday!
Sicily Ann Shimakonis was born March 13th. My newest niece. I am very excited to share a birthday with her. I have 8 nieces now and 6 newphews. And of coarse I am everyones favorite Aunt!

Pictures from the Birthday

2009-03-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

I love cheesecake so that is what I got for my Birthday cake

Celebrating my Birthday at my sisters house. It was a great night with family and friends.

Since I am so old now my sister decided to buy me this shirt for my birthday. It is a shirt an old lady would wear. I love it. I think I will wear it to work! haha

Turning 30

2009-03-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me celebrating my birthday with the Urry's haha

Yesterday was my 30th Birthday. Yep that's right I'm old, but lucky I still feel great and I don't look old.
I got carded the other day when I was buying ammo. That totally made my day and made turning 30 a little easier.
This is what I did for my birthday.... Nothing to exciting but it was still a fun day. I got up and went running. Then around noon I met up with Derek and we spent the day together. We went shopping, he took me to the shooting range. Then we went to the movies. We ended up seeing a movie called Push... Seriously anyone who is thinking about going to see it don't waste your money. It was a dumb movie. While we were at the movie theater Derek made me play Dance Dance revolution. I think he has a little bit of it on video. I will post it.
After the movie went did a little more shopping then went over to Tracey and Troy's house for pizza and games.
It was a fun day.
I booked myself a massage for Tuesday morning so that is going to be a nice little treat.

Exercise isn't good for Sick people

2009-02-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

You know when you are sick and you just want to rest and get better. That sounds great and that is what sick people should do.

At the beginning of the week I told myself I wasn't going to get sick. Derek was sick and told me not to come over. I don't always listen to him :) so I went and hung out with him anyway. I was like "oh don't worry I won't get sick". haha

By Friday I wasn't feeling the best and that night I started coughing really bad. Well I had to run 7 miles the next day. So Saturday morning I wake up not feeling the greatest. But my dilemma was how was I going to get my 7 mile run in? So I talked to my roommate Amber about how I needed to run 7 miles but it probably wasn't the best idea. She suggested I take her bike out for a little bit. That way I get my exercise in and it's better on my lungs.

Excited I could still get a bit of exercise I got ready for the bike ride. My first 3 miles on the bike I had a little bit of trouble with the gears but I figured it out and had a smooth ride after that. The peddles kept getting stuck because something was wrong with the gear.

As I was going to cross a busy street my peddles wouldn't move so I am sitting on Amber's bike trying to get out of the middle of the road before I got hit and the peddles won't budge. Finally they started working again. That went on for 3 miles.

I road the bike over to my sisters house. Stopped in to say hi for a few mins then finished my ride home. 14 miles later I was home. I was sooo tired. And really 14 miles isn't a lot on a bike.

As the day went on I started to just feel worse. Maybe riding the bike wasn't the best thing to do when you're sick.

I was supposed to go on a date with Derek. When he walked through the door I guess I didn't look the best. He said I had a fake smile on and I looked like crap. I don't know if crap was the word he used but it was something like that.
He told me I was going to go to bed for the rest of the day. I didn't want to rest I wanted to go on my date. haha

Our date ended up being Derek taking care of me while I was sick. Probably not the most ideal date. It's always nice to have someone take care of you when you're sick

So Yeah kids rest up when you're sick!

My new Hobby

2009-02-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so for the past 4 months or longer I have been going to the shooting range. I actually have a membership to the shooting range here in Mesa. So we go about once a week.
Derek, Tracey, Troy and I even had a little shooting competition. Tracey won she did a great job for only shooting a couple of times. Her prize for winning is she gets a box of ammo from each of the players.
Anyway I have been trying to decide what gun I wanted to get. I finally made the decision last night when I bought my gun!!!
I got the Springfield XD 9mm subcompact. Just a cute little gun :)

Oranges

2009-02-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything for awhile. Not that it hasn't been excited because it has.

On Sunday my roommate JoAnn and I decided to go for a walk. On our walk we came across a couple of orange trees. Last week when I was running to my sisters house I noticed them and thought they looked good. So when JoAnn suggested that we try them I was all for it.

We pick our oranges and start peeling them, they looked like they were going to be great. They were juicy and easy to peel.

We happen to bite into them at the same time. And we spit them right back out. They were so gross. It tasted like a lemon and an orange combined haha. Sick!

Later that night I was telling Tracey (my sister) about them and she told me they are ornamental oranges and you shouldn't eat them.

I don't know why people would want to go grow something they would never eat.

Derek said it served us right if we were picking fruit from someone else's tree.

Valentines Day
The night was actually good. We went over to my sisters house for a few mins then we just got some pizza and wings and watched a movie.

I hadn't seen Derek in 3 days. I was just excited to be able to see him and spend time with him.

Other then that life is just normal work and play.

The News!!

2009-02-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

As you probably all know I work for my sister Tracey and my brother in law Troy. They own a little emergency supply and food storage store here in Mesa.

A few weeks ago we got a call from Fox channel 10 asking if they would come to our store and spotlight us. Of course they said yes. So yesterday Fox 10 came to our store. They showed all of the fun things we sell.

If you want to check it out to go http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/subindex/azam and look under Preparing Wisely.

Inside vs. Outside

2009-02-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that I am training for a 1/2 Marathon in April. I started training a month ago but haven't been the best at it.
It's time to get serious about it now. I only have 2 months till it happens. I've already paid so if I want to lose 50.00 dollars then I'm running it.
On Sunday I made a running schedule for the next 2 months.
I only had to run 3 miles today, I had a hard time getting out of bed. But with a little motivation I got to the gym. I would rather run outside then run on the treadmill. It was cold this morning so I opted for the gym.
Usually when I run on the treadmill I fist look for whats on some of the TV's then I got to which ever side I like the best. After that I look for a treadmill that doesn't have people running next to it. Sometimes there are too many people for that to happen. So today I choose to watch the Today show (I think that is what it is) usually I watch Fox News. Then the treadmill I picked had one person to the left of me and it was open to the right of me.
After running for 2 mins the girl to the left of me left her treadmill and a few others on my row left as well. So the selection of treadmills is pretty open at this point.
Then as I am totally getting into running, I'm focused and feeling great. I just this older lady that comes up to the right side of me and starts walking on her treadmill. She smells of cherry cough syrup and old lady. Not a good combo.
Then after being in the zone and running for awhile this lady I don't think I can even explain what she was doing. But this lady basically is like leaning over to me like she is going to start talking to me or something. But she is looking past me. I glance over because she is interrupting my focus which totally pissed me off. But she wasn't even look at me she was looking out the window. She might has well have jumped on my treadmill and started running with me that is how close she got.
You all know how I love when people invade my space haha
I tried to get back into focus and it worked but then 3 MORE times this lady did that to me. The 2nd time I knew she didn't have any headphones in because she also kept talking on her phone. I looked at her and said "what the hell?" She said nothing to me but kept right on pissing me off.
I know you are probably asking why I just didn't move treadmills but I was to far along to want to move now. So I just tried to endure the talking on the phone, the getting in my space and her smelly cherry cough syrup/old lady smell.
After 20 mins of this she FINALLY got off.
I do like going to the gym because most of the time while I am there I do more then just run. I like the stair master, elliptical and the weights. So that is the good thing about the gym
But I love running outside when it isn't cold. I like the idea of getting somewhere in the end, just being out in the open. For the most part no smelly people next to you and if they are you invited them to be their. :)

Day Trip to Sedona

2009-01-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

A month ago I got a phone call from a timeshare company, they usually give pretty good gifts for just listening to them. Well so I thought! They told me no pressure we just had to come listen to their presentation and they would give us a free cruise for 2, 400.00 dollars for gas and 25.00 dollars to a restaurant. Sounds nice right?
Well (I'm sitting here laughing at myself) I talked Derek into coming with me. So I put both of our names down for this adventure. Combined we had to make 40K. No problem with the both of us. I couldn't do it alone.
Anyway we drive up to Sedona and get to this Resort for out presentation at 3pm. We go fill out our form and then Karen comes to talk to us. After we talk to her for 30 mins she goes and gets the manager. Larry was an interesting person. Derek says a guy stuck in the 70's and I would have to agree.
Larry comes to tell me that my name was the only one on the list and since I didn't make 40K we couldn't have the presentation. Then he tells us that Karen can just explain really fast what a timeshare is all about. So I'm thinking oh if we just sit here and listen to her we will still get this great deal. Man I can be dumb sometimes.
Karen explains all about it and we sit there for another 30 minutes. haha and yeah we get NOTHING out of that 60 mins we spend at Sedona Pine Resort.
The thing that makes me most annoyed is they sent me a confirmation letter with Mine and Derek's name on it, so don't tell me my name was the only one on the list. I had to admit I was very annoyed that that just happened. But I had to laugh because it's me and things like that happen to me all the time. I have a lot of those moments in life, it definitely makes it interesting.
Other then that the road trip with Derek was great. I actually talked most of the way up to Sedona. Usually I get quiet when I'm in the car.
Then we were able to walk around down town for a little bit. Which downtown Sedona was interesting. Very touristy
We did go check out a church that was built into a road that was kind of cool, not really what I pictured of being "built into"
After our adventure to Sedona we were only 30 miles to Flagstaff so we drove over there to meet up with some of Derek's friends.
I don't know if anyone of you ever get car sick but yeah not a fun thing to experience. Ever since I was a kid I've gotten car sick. And yes I was getting car sick as we were making our way to Flagstaff.
Anyway made it to Flag had dinner with D's friends and drove home.
All in all the day was fun.
If anyone want to have some fun road trip's with me just let me know. :)

Pictures of my Utah Trip

2009-01-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

Lunch with the Spa girls. I love these girls too!

Me and my favorite cousin Tricia

Lunch with the Girls from Cosmetology. We had the best time in school haha

Me and Nick at the outdoor shooting range

Dog Crap

2009-01-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

I think everyone knows I'm not a big fan of animals. Well at Derek's house there are 2 small dogs.

I was over there the other day and I walk into the house and do the kitchen counter. Then I walk back over to the door. So I am just walking all around the freakin house and then Derek's Landlord was like Maybe(one of the dogs) pooped on the floor and someone stepped in it.

And of coarse it had to be me. So I took off my shoe then went to take a step back since I was just in my sock. As Derek is about to tell me not to put my foot down I do and I step right in more dog crap I have smeared all around their living room.

I just can't believe I got it on my sock to. I was so grossed out I threw my socks away right then. I had some extra socks in the car and Amanda (Derek's sister) had extra shoes.

I seriously can't believe I did that. After I got home I later threw my shoes away.

Urgh the thought I cleaning that crap of didn't appeal to me. And the shoes were only 10 dollars.

And I didn't even try to help clean up the dog crap I smeared all over the carpet. haha I guess that was kind of mean of me.

This stepping in dog crap use to happen to me a lot when I would go hang out at Sheldon and Gregg's place when we first moved to Utah. I was always with Greg when it happened.

Day 6 in Ut and Back in AZ

2009-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I just have to say that I don't know how people travel alone with kids. Jenn had a flight that left 30 mins after mine did so I asked her if she would bring me to the airport.
She very excitedly said yes and told me it would be great that I would be there to help her with the luggage and Ave(her baby).
I was put in charge of Ava and my bags while I checked in. Jenn took her 3 bags checked in then took the car to long term parking. The walk alone with the bags and Ava was hard enough and I didn't have to walk that far. Then I had to stand in line to check in for 30 mins. The good thing was that Ava was in her carseat strapped to a luggage roller so I really had it easy. She was a great baby, never cried.
After that the security line was pretty long. By the time I got through there it was almost time for me to start boarding my flight.
So I said goodbye to Jenn and Ava and went on my way.
When I got there the plane wasn't even there yet. I only had to wait an extra 20 mins which the lobby area spent watching the inaugeration.
Then I slept the whole hour and 30 mins to AZ. After that I just waited for Derek to get off of work so I could go home.
It was a great visit to Utah, good times with my friends and family.

Day 5 in Utah

2009-01-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to write about yesterday so I need to fill you in.
Monday morning I woke up and went to the gym. I was finally able to start running again. I hurt my neck in Vegas and it's just now starting to feel better.
After the gym I meet up with the amazing friends from the Spa. I love those girls. We went to Italian Village for lunch. We spent a couple of hours visiting. It's always fun getting together with those girls. I wish I could see them more often.
Then I had a 4 hours of totally down time. I did laundry and lounged around.
After that Jenn picked me up and let me borrow her car so I could visit my wonderful brother again. I didn't have a whole lot of time to visit with Tyler but it was good to see him and the family again.
Then I headed back to Jenn's to have a sleep over and cut Nick's hair.
After running a couple of errands I made it back to Jenn's house with everyone waiting for me.
We visited with Nick and Mindy while I cut Nick's hair.
After they left Jenn, Gina and I just hung around and talked. We started to watch Get Smart but turned it off after 5 mins so we could just talk.
We just sat by the fired and hung out. It sucks we all don't leave near each other anymore but it was great for us to have a girls night.
Finally around midnight we decided to get some sleep.
Jenn and I slept in the same bed so we of course talked more.

Day 4 in at Utah

2009-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

I was a little bit lazy this morning I woke up around 9:30 but didn't actually become mobile till noon. haha I just laid around doing nothing. It was really nice to be able to do that.
I got to chat with Derek for a little bit before I got ready for church.
Then off to church. It was a great sacrament meeting. Probably the best one I have been to in the past few months.
After church I finally went and hung out with my brother. I guess I'm not a very good sister if this is my 4th day in town and I am just barely seeing him. But at least I got to see him.
It is always great to hang out with my brother and family. His daughter was very hyper which always makes for a fun time. Then his son was sick so he just stared at me haha. I only got to spend a little over an hour there so I will go back tomorrow.
Then Tricia and I were off to Gina's baby blessing. It is always great to get together with the friends. I got to see Sadie&Cory which they always crack me up. I love those two.
Rob was there. I haven't seen him for awhile so it was great to finally caught up with him.
Then of course Jenn, Tricia, Gina&Jared were there.
I really love my friends
Now I'm just hanging out with Tricia and Ty.
It was a great Sunday.

Day 3 in Utah

2009-01-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

I know you guys are all sitting around your computers waiting for me to update the blog.
Alright day 3 started of with me sleeping in then running off to the gym.
After a pretty good workout. I went to the movies with some of my favorite roommates of all time. Jenn, Gina and my cousin Tricia. We had the best times being roommates. We went to see Bride War. It was a pretty good movie. Then we just chatted for a while after.
Then off to dinner at Asian Star with Jenn, her parents and our friends Nick and Mindy. I spent a lot of time chasing Ava (Jenn's little girl) around. She is very active. I love her she's so cute.
After Asian star I went over so Jenn's to watch a movie and hang out. Before I made it to the house I did a little shopping and bought a shirt.
Then we watched P.S. I love you. It's a great movie. It sure seems like a watch a lot of movies. But I guess that happens with you are just hanging out and relaxing. Then after the movie Jenn and I just chatted.
I love my friends. I'm so glad I get to spend time with them every couple of months even though we all live far away from each other.

Day 2 in Utah

2009-01-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

This trip is pretty different then my last visit here to Utah. In November I was packed full of people to see and things to do.
This visit is mostly just chill'n with a few great friends.
This morning I got to wake up and go to the gym. My neck is still killing me so I just walked on the treadmill then did the stair master.
After the gym I went out to breakfast with Craig. Craig and I have been friends for about 6 years now. We always get together for lunch so we can caught up on each others lives. I had breakfast with Craig at Paradise Cafe. Craig needed to get to class and I had to wait for Tricia to come get me.
So I just hung out at Paradise for a bit. Tricia and I actually spent a couple more hours just hanging out.
Then off to lunch with my great friends from hair school. Man I love those girls. I hadn't seen T and Brandy in years so it was great to caught up with them. Melissa and Char I usually see on a regular basis.
After lunch Char and I went back to her house to color and cut my hair. I was in despite need of help. Then I put some highlights in Char's hair and did some waxing. Man I really miss doing hair and esthetics.
I thought I would be hanging out with my brother tonight but he never called so I had dinner with Char and her family.
It was a great day today. Just spending time with some good friends.
The night is still young....let's see what kind of trouble I can get into :)

Day 1 of Utah

2009-01-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

I am back in Utah for 5 days. I know people what to know if I ever work. I have a wonderful boss.
This morning I arrived in Utah to have my great friend Wes pick me up from the airport. After that I treated him to breakfast at the Park Cafe which is a pretty good breakfast place.
After breakfast Wes and I hung out in Barnes&Noble for a couple of hours.
Then my friend Nick picked me up and we went to an out door shooting range. I've never been to an outdoor one before. They have different rules, I got talked to a few times. I think the guy in charge was getting a little impatient with me. Plus you have to walk your target out yourself. It was interesting. I shot a 22 today. I did alright for myself. I need to practice more.
After the adventure at the range Nick dropped me off to spend some time with my cousin Tricia.
Tricia and I just hung out watch a movie and made dinner. Then we went to the movies to see Gran Torino. It was a pretty good movie.

Vegas Baby!

2009-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend my roommates and I decided to take a road trip up to Vegas this past weekend.
I always love going up to Vegas. It gives me a chance to visit people from my mission.
We left Mesa in the afternoon on Friday, we got to Vegas in time to go see The Blue Man group. I was so nervous about going to see them because we were in the 3rd row and you get paint on you or get wet if you seat that close. But the provide you with a poncho. I was kind of annoyed at the thought of getting anything on me.
But despite me being nervous I loved it. The Blue Man group was great. I would go again. I didn't even get anything on me too haha
After Blue Man Group we walked on the strip for a little bit then went to see Diana Ross preform. She was pretty good. Stevie Wonder walked right by us to go in to see Diana.
On Saturday afternoon we went over to Gus' pizza place to have some great pizza and visit with him. JoAnn and I taught Gus the discussions way back when.
After that I went up by the temple to visit the Urry's. I love that family. We then went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.
Eddie and Ken thought he would be funny and tell them it was my brithday because if it's your b-day the waiters and waitresses embarrass you and make you do silly things.
So after our dinner was over the waitress brought over some dessert along with the other waiters to embarrass me because they think it is my birthday.
So I have to wear a cowboy hat and gallop around the restaurant on a stick horse while they sing Happy Birthday to me. I can't believe I actually did it. Despite being extremely embarrassed it was funny.
So Thanks Urry family for embarrassing me.
Another funny thing that happened at dinner was.... JoAnn and I were sitting next to Eric Urry whom we haven't seen for awhile. He turns to us and asks... Are you guys together?
lol we both just stared at him not knowing what to say to him. I was like ummm No we like guys. But what he really meant was did we come to Vegas together. Good times with this family.
After dinner Michelle took JoAnn and I shopping at town square. We hit up H&M then the MAC store.
We then met up with the rest of the roommates for Dessert at Brio's
Sunday morning Liz and I had breakfast at IHOP while the others were off doing something else.
Then we to visit the Ogiela's who use to be mine and JoAnn's ward mission leaders. Great people too.
The we left Vegas around 2:30 for our great trip home.
It was a fun weekend visiting people and spending time with my roommates

New Years Eve & New Years Day!

2009-01-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

The end of 2008 end went well. I got to get out of work at 2 so I could start celebrating.
I got to spend the rest of the day with Derek. We went to the mall and a couple other stores, then he took me to lunch. After a few hours of shopping around I went back to my house to have dinner with one of my lovely roommates Liz.
Liz and I decided to end the year with a lobster tail dinner. We went and picked out our lobster tail then came home to make our dinner.
After the lobster dinner Derek and his sister Amanda came over to. We decided to play some games, scrabble and rummikub, then after the start of the New Year we watched the movie Traitor. It was pretty good.
Then around 2:45 I decided it was time to go to bed. I didn't get up until 11:45 the next day. I haven't slept in that late in forever.
Since I have signed up to do a 1/2 marathon on April 4th I thought it would be a good day to get started on the training. If anyone wants to join me I would love it.
After my run I went over to Derek's for a BBQ. It was such a nice day out. I think it was 78-80 maybe. Perfect day for a BBQ.
Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2008-12-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve I had to work till 2:30 which wasn't bad at all. Then Derek and I went to the shooting range for a little bit. I tried a few different 9mm that I have never used before.
After that I went over to Tracey's house for our traditional family dinner. I don't know how long we have been doing this in our family but every year on Christmas Eve we have lasagna for dinner. After dinner we did a few more traditional family Christmas eve things. We read the story of the Saviors birth in Luke 2. Then we got out open 1 present.
After the kids were in bed Derek came over and me Derek, Tracey and Troy placed monopoly. Derek got the new monopoly game were you just use a debit card. Which makes the game go a little faster. Troy ended up winning the game.
As the kids were going to bed Quinton wanted to stay up and see Santa but they told him he wouldn't come if Q was awake. So Q asked my sister to write Santa a letter asking if he would take a picture of himself. So Derek got the idea to go out and find a Santa out in someones yard and take a picture of it.
After a game of monopoly Derek and I went driving around to find some Santa's to take their pictures. We took about 4 of them.

Christmas morning the kids got up and were so excited that Santa had come and wrote them a note. They didn't believe the pictures we took. They thought Santa was just being silly. And another thing that Santa did was drink some soda that was supposed to be my present. They got a kick out of it. Q came in and woke me up to tell me that Santa drank some of my present. We decided to open some of them while we were playing the game.
Then the rest of the day was spent playing with the new toys the kids go and eating. Good times. I'm glad I was able to spend my Holiday with my sister and her family.

Thursday!

2008-12-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today has been an eventful day. Let me just share some of the things that have happened today.
I give myself almost 2 hours to get ready in the morning and today I have no clue what I did in that time but all the sudden I was rushing around about to be late for work. I don't have to be to work till 10 so I should never need an excuse to be late. haha
It's been a pretty steady day as to having customers come in and out of the store today. An old person happen to grace my presents today. This one not just any old person but one of the crazy ones that I like to talk about.
Here is the story, she walks and and the first question out of her mouth is "Are you Mormon?" .... Yes I am then she was like good and starts walking around. I'm just sitting there thinking ummm ok. Then she gets to the 2400 calorie bar people usually put in their 72 hour kits. We have some that we sample so I asked her if she would like to try a sample of the calorie bar. It tastes like shortbread with a coconut flavoring. Most people like it. Well this old lady was a little off her rocker. After she puts the sample into her mouth she chews it for a little bit. Then she proceeds to spit it into her hands making the sounds that go with it. It was soooo gross.
After that I got to take a lunch break with my friend Derek and we went to the shooting range. It was a lot of fun. I shot the springfield XD9 sub compact which is the gun I want. The Derek brought his 45 Colt and a Revolver. The revolver was pretty interesting to shoot with.

Mistletoe Mania

2008-12-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

My roommates and I decided to have a party this past weekend. This is the first party we have had in our house. The old house the roommates used to live in was called Club Dolphin or known as the House of Plenty, and they used to host a lot of parties. These parties use to get pretty big.
I love planning and having parties so I was pretty excited about this one. We put up mistletoe all around our house, pretty much everywhere you went you were under it.
Anyway the party turned out to be great. We had a ton of people come.

Gratitude

2008-12-10T11:03:00.001-08:00

Since this is the season to be grateful I just wanted to express it.
I love where I am at in my life. I love working for and with my sister and brother in law. I love the people I live with.

I am grateful for the many friendships I have made through my life. I don't know where I would be without them. They have all taught me many things. I'm excited to continue the friendships I've made and also to make new ones. Thank you all for the things you've done for me.

I am also very blessed to have a great family. My parents taught us about the Savior and the sacrifices he for each of us. My parents also taught me the importance of what a family is supposed to be. The love we need to have for everyone and that we also need to forgive. I am so glad I have 3 older sisters and a younger brother that keep me in line. I'm glad I get to live near Tracey and learn from her. I grateful I get to spend time with at least one of my sister.

Mostly I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who made it possible to turn to our Heavenly Father. I am thankful for Joseph Smith and the sacrifice he made in bring forth the Book of Mormon. I am also thankful for all of the Prophets that have come after Joseph Smith.

I am also grateful for the many people who sacrifice their lives daily for the building up of the Kingdom of God, for the many missionaries that are out there sharing the gospel with others.

Thank you to all the people that have made a difference in my life. And that is everyone the I know :)

Just a quick Old Person note

2008-12-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

As I was driving into work today I had a bunch of boxes I need to get out of my car so I parked close to the door. The spot I picked happened to be next to the handicapped stop. This old lady was just sitting in her car I'm guess to prepare to get out of the car. Sometimes it can be a process :) As I get out of my car I am hit with the strongest old lady smell, you know the really gross flowery nasty nasty smell. It was like she poured a bottle of her yummy perfume all over the outside and inside of her car. I was still 10 feet away and could still smell it.
That definitely made my morning. haha

Looking Back on 2008

2008-11-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

Since this year is almost over I've been looking back on what has happened. I have gotten to do so many things this past year.
January
My mom flew to UT to visit me and also surprise my sister Tira. We drove up to Rexburg, ID for the baptism of her twins. It was great to be able to spend some time with my mother. I got her mostly to myself which doesn't happen that often.
February
The day before I flew out to visit Tracey she called me and asked me to come work for her. Her and Troy wanted to open up an Emergency Supply and Food Storage and need someone to work for them. Making that decision was very simple since I knew I was going to move down to AZ already. It was just a matter of moving sooner. But once I walked off the plane I knew I needed to move back down here.
Once I had made my decision things in UT got a little weird. I don't know what I would have done if Jenn wasn't around. A big thank you. I love Jenn and I am grateful I was able to spend time with her before we both moved.
Jenn was waiting to sell her house so she could move up to WA where Kelly got a job. I was able to move in with Jenn for a few weeks to spend some time together before we both moved. I always love the time I get to spend with Jenn. Thanks for being there for me and helping out.
March
I got to take a quick trip to Las Vegas for the new store. I was able to stay with some people from my mission. I love visiting Vegas. I love the Urry's they always let me come visit when I'm in town.
I turned 29 man I am getting old. I said goodbye to some of my bestest friends I have made in the past 5 years I lived in UT. I had a lot of good times up in Utah. I really did love living there, but it was time for me to move on.
At the end of March I packed up my car and moved to AZ. If it didn't fit in the car I didn't take it.
April
I planned on spending a week in Hawaii before I got to work on getting the store up and running. I was going to get to hang out with my cousin Tricia and my old roommate Gina. Gina lives in Hawaii. I am so thankful that Gina is living in Hawaii. Even though I miss her and I don't get to see her that often. This is why I'm glad she lives there.
Because when the airline that you flew on to get to Hawaii goes out of business and you are stuck there for 3 week. It's always nice to have a free place to stay. So I know a lot of people would have loved to be stuck in Hawaii for 3 weeks, I'm not one of those people. I did enjoy the time I got to spend with Gina and Tricia. But they both left me. I had to spend the last week by myself.
Although I didn't have the best time of my life in Hawaii I felt like it was something that was meant to happen. I tried to enjoy it the best I could. There are some good things that have come out of me being there for 3 weeks.
May
Opening the store. After I got back from Hawaii I worked hard to make up for my 2 extra weeks away. We were able to open the doors the first week in May.
June
After having our grand opening of the store I took off to Utah for a few of days. Then I headed off to NY for a week. I brought my nieces to go stay with my parents for the summer. I love going home. Last year I made it back to the east coast but not back home. While I was home I got to visit my best friend from High school whom I haven't seen in 7 years. And I spent a lot of time at my sister Tanya's house and with my parents. One thing I did while I was home was mow the lawn. I got to mow almost 2 acres of land. Good times
July
My roommates and I decided to go up to Sedona for the 4th of July. We left the night of the 4th and stayed in a cabin at the KOA. We had a great time just being silly. The next morning we finished our drive to Sedona. We went on a couple of hikes and slide down some rocks in the river. It is cool how smooth the rocks are. There is a popular placed called slide rock but we found another place like it.
August
Man I love Lake Powell. For the past few years Gina has invited me (or I invite myself haha) to the lake. I got to spend 4 days with Gina, Jenn and Tricia. We all use to be roommates. And of course Jared and Kelly and Gina's other family members. I always manage to do something to hurt myself when I am at Powell. haha The first year we don't talk about it :). Last year was me jumping off a 20ft cliff doing a cannon ball. Yes it hurt and yes I was black and blue from my butt to the back of my knees. This year Gina has a video or me trying to get up the tube and I fell off like 5 times. I didn't get up water skiing again. But maybe next year.
September
I decided to take a break from vacationing and work haha. This is the month I started my little dating thing. Then I started blogging. I think you are all caught up on my life.

I have had a lot of amazing memories this past year and I owe them all to my great friends and family. For the people that are in my life thank you for sticking around. Thanks for loving me.

My Week in UT

2008-11-13T09:13:00.001-08:00

I have already posted a few things about my trip to UT.

I had a great time visiting most of my amazing friends. There are a couple of good friends that have moved out of UT, but that just means I need to take a trip to see them.

So my week was filled with going to either lunch or dinner to my friends. I think I gained like 10 pounds while I was there. haha

I got to see one of my favorite roommates Jenn. My Spa girls. A lot of other great great friends of mine.

I also got to spend time with my brother and his family. It was great to be able to do that. I wish they would move to AZ so I could see them all the time.

Crazy drivers & Customer Service, Welcome to UT

2008-11-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I arrived in UT and my cousin picked me up and let me borrow my other cousins car for the week.
Well it is well pasted midnight and I am headed down to one of my friends houses to sleep over.
As I am driving down to Lehi there is only one other car on the road with me. Well seeing as I am in UT and everyone knows they have the best drivers. This car cuts me off.
Seriously what the hell. We are the only 2 cars on a 4 lane freeway. That is one part of Ut I don't miss at all.

Ok my next story happened today. I went to the mall with my brother and sister -in-law. We were just walking around the mall and my brother wanted to to into a Verizon wireless store to show me the phone wanted.
As we are walking into the store there is about 4 employees standing at the door. This chic turns to me and was like is there anything that I can do for you. So I said. Yes there is... can you tell me how much it would cost for a voyager batter? She just looked at me like I was stupid and said I don't know. Then proceeded to stare at me like I never asked her a question.
Now why would you even ask to help if out if you had not intentions of doing your job.
What a moron

Classic Teana Moment

2008-11-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have been in Ut since Wednesday. My very good friend and old roommate Jenn and I got together to do something we love doing. Shopping!!! haha
Jen went to go try on some jeans, then she would come out and show them to me. She tried on like 3 or 4 pair and I would tell her how I felt about each of them. Some were too short other just didn't look good, then there were some that looked great.
Well she finally opened the door with this one pair and I was like umm no I don't like those at all. Then she turns to me and the look on her face just told me I had made a mistake lol.
Jenn says to me "Umm these are the pair I came in, they're mine." haha I felt a little bit silly.
We had a great laugh about it.

Service

2008-11-04T12:06:00.001-08:00

Since we are getting into the Holiday season I thought I would let you know of an opportunity you could be of service.
I have a friend in the Air Force. He was recently deployed to a place called Djibouti. It's near Ethiopia.
Since he has been there he has had to opportunity to volunteer in an orphanage there.
He has told me that they are always in need of diapers at the orphanage. If anyone is looking for a service project for their church calling or just wants to do their own service project let me know.
I would be more then happy to give you the address where you would be able to send some diapers to the orphanage.
Kit would appreciate it also. I love that he is able to be of service while he is away.

This is what Kit had to say.......

Today I was able to go out to an orphanage. The trip there brought back memories of traveling though all sorts of various countries. The constructions is similar to that in Qatar, although some of it seemed subpar. Just passing through the little town makes you want to get out and chat with the people. See what makes them tick and walk a mile in their shoes.
When we arrived at the orphanage I was somewhat surprised at the quality of the facility. It is ran by the French so that may have something to do with it. We were greeted by a couple locals and the previously mentioned French volunteers. After washing our hands and removing our shoes we were ushered into a room (approx 15'x25') where were again greeted by 23 children from 6 to 18 months.
When I first walked into the room my attention was drawn to a little boy who was scooting on his tummy as fast as his little legs and arms could take him, but in no specific direction. I thought nothing of this at first and my attention was taken away from him until a few minutes later when he scooted across the tile floor and ended up at my feet. As I reached down to pick him up I noticed that his eyes were shifting in every direction. Abdi is blind, but he picks up on adult voices and homes in on them. I was privileged to hold him for almost the entire time. I was told he doesn't cry, but only whimpers if you let him down (which is why I held him for almost 2 hours). As I held him for about an hour he began to fidget with is shirt, pulled it up and made a scratching motion on his tummy. I was slightly slow on the uptake, but finally realized that he was hungry. A few moments later a couple of the women came in with food. I fed him a corn something or other and then mushed bananas (mixed with something). Needless to say Abdi wasn't a fan of the corn yuckiness and neither was I after tasting it. I totally concur with his choice of mushed bananas...much tastier! About 10 minutes after I fed him I was beckoned to give him to one of the workers so he could finish his corn whatever. I was surprise, she got it down him.
The good news is that the majority of these children will be adopted in to French families. It's true, these children crave being held and some one on one time. Hopefully i'll be able to visit it again before too long.

Old Friends & Scary Movies

2008-11-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

This past week has been pretty fun. Aside from the shooting range I went out to dinner with an old college friend (Derek). We haven't seen each other in probably 9 and a half years. Man I'm getting old.
Anyway dinner turned out to be great. It's always fun catching up with people from your past, and seeing how they've change throughout the years. It brought back some memories I almost forgot out. I wish we would have taken more pictures back then. But we do have a video of me doing some dance moves out there. haha
Since dinner was great we actually hung out again and watched scary movies. I apparently haven't watched a lot of movies in my day. We watched Pet Semetery and The Shining. And yes I did get scared. It wasn't really because I thought that the movies were scary, it was just the anticipation of being scared. So Yes I was a little jumpy. So much to the point the remote fell onto my leg and I jumped. Or at one point the dog barked and I pretty much jumped into Derek's lap.
That's all I've got for now kid.

Shooting Range

2008-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

I had yesterday off of work so I was just going to be lazy and do nothing. But I decided to see what Hunter was up to. He is my Home Teacher. It's great. I want to get a gun, so Hunter and I have been talking about it lately.
Seriously if we were into each other this would have been a great gesture. So we go out to lunch and he asked him if I had any plans for the rest of the day because he wanted to take me to one more place. So I told him I didn't really have any set plans. He then told me he wasn't going to tell me where he was taking me he wanted to surprise me.
I had no clue where he wanted to take me. I didn't really figure it out until we were walking into the building. I was so excited.
Anyway good times. We shot with 3 different guns. 2 different 45's and then a 9 millimeter. I think I liked the 9 mm the best. I think I might get myself a gun for Christmas.
And my brother in law told me we will be getting a work membership to the shooting range.
Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Old People, you know how I love them

2008-10-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so my good friends you all know how I feel about old people. If you don't well you are about to find out.
I guess I'm in the wrong State if I'm not a big fan of the oldies. But now that the weather is cooling off the old people or "snow birds" are returning. I fear that I will be seeing a lot of them.
My week started off getting really annoyed at the O.P's. At first I thought it was just because I only got a few hours of sleep the night before. But as more and more snow birds come into the store I have to tell myself not to get annoyed right away. Some of them that come in I like and their hilarious. I even joke around with the fun ones. The fun ones seem to be few and far between.
It's the ones that are reverting back to childhood. The ones that have the answer right in front of there faces but ask the obvious question anyway. The ones that don't want to find the answer for themselves.
I don't know about you guys but I was taught to try to find the answer out myself, then if I couldn't find it ask the question.
This week some an O.P. came in and everything she picked up she would ask if it was made in China (usually if it's made in china it says right on it).
I was like Umm it might have been. We aren't the manufacturer so I can't be positive. Then she goes off for about 10 mins on how everything is being made in China right now, I can't remember what else she said about China. But I just wanted to say NO Crap lady that is why you're getting it for so cheap. The O.Ps are already complaining about things costing to much, just imagine if it was made here, how much more it would cost.
One of my favorite stories is when an O.P walked into the store with her friend and she walks over to the fire starters. She picks it up and looks at it for a couple of mins. Then she turns to her friend and says "Do you think this really works" Her friend responds "Oh I don't know"
I am just sitting in my little chair thinking to myself "are they really serious" Well I really thought something else but we will go with that. Why the heck would we sell something that doesn't work. REALLY
Or one time I had this couple come in and everything they picked up they would ask me what is was. Seriously everything they picked up.
I could go on forever about the O.Ps if you ever need a good story just let me know.

State Fair

2008-10-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

I was feeling a lot better on Saturday so we headed out to the State Fair. I haven't been to a fair since I was 14.
We got to see Angles and Airwaves, then Weezer. It was a really good concert.
I decided to get some fair food. I don't know why anyone would want to eat that stuff. Although the funnel cake was good.
I posted a picture of me and my roommates at the fair. That big picture is me eating some giant hotdog. haha it was sick.

Just a side not on my boys. I went and hung out with K last night. I don't know if this is going to start being a weekly thing or what.

No Date this week

2008-10-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure everyone is surprised but I won't be going on a date this week. Not unless you call going to a furniture auction with your roommates boyfriend a date. My roommate has to work tonight so I am going to hang out with her boyfriend. He is a pretty cool guy so it should be fun.

I have been sick for the past few days and my roommate who is a PA thinks I have strep. Which sucks.

The Pictures

2008-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so I took most of the pictures down. I got a little nervous about posting some of those pictures without the guys knowing. And I changed one of the guys names because my dear friend Jenn asked me "would if the guys stumble onto your blog?" If that happened I would be pretty embarrassed.
But hey if anyone needs to see more pictures let me know.

Pictures will be coming

2008-10-07T11:24:00.001-07:00

Ok I will be adding some pictues to the blog, so just bare with me.

Country Dancing and More Notes on Some of the Dates

2008-10-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

I did go country dancing on Wednesday night. I know right ME dancing let alone going country dancing. With cowgirl boots and all. haha They had a little class in the beginning to teach people how to dance and I got partnered up with a pretty good looking guy. He didn't know what he was doing either so it was fun. Then this guy David was there. He is a very good dancer and we danced a couple of times. I actually had a lot of fun and I will probably go back. I might even start liking country music :)
Just to back up a little bit since Tuesday I haven't spoken to H and I am totally fine with never speaking to him again. The reason I would be fine with not talking to him again is because He isn't who I would really want to end up with.

Why I started blogging about my life

2008-10-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have recently send an e-mail about filling my friends in on my life. Nick thought the e-mails were funny and thought I should blog about them. So here I am. I hope you all enjoy the silly things that go on in my life.