First day of kindergarten

YAY! The day is finally here :-) I just dropped Rachel off at school. We walked to her school and then dropped her off at her classroom. Rachel seemed fine, she didn't get shy when I dropped her off, and I didn't even get teary. The only questions is...now what should I do? I am supposed to be working from home today...but I am having a hard time focusing --I would much rather CELEBRATE!!

Roommates!

Sam's brother and his wife, and their little girl, are going to rent our house while we are gone...but until we actually leave-we are roommates. Most of you know how bad Rachel wants a baby brother or baby sister. Since this is the closest she will get for a while, I was excited to let her fully experience it so we put them in the same room. Here is them on their first night, all in their pj's. Rachel was so excited!

Day 2 of being a big "sister":

Rach: 'mom will you help me hang these signs up?'

me: 'Sure, what are all these for'

Rach: 'So we know where to stop and where to go'

me: 'Cool, that sounds like a fun game"

the funny part came when someone asked 'who are the signs for' and we found out they only applied to their little girl (she is 1) . Maybe being a big sister is a little different than she was expecting.

Father Daughter Camping Trip

Every year we go camping in Southern Utah, and this year since I had to work I didn't think we would be able to go. Well, "WE" couldn't go, but Sam decided there was no reason and him and Rachel couldn't go. I was a little bummed at first. After all, I was supposed to be the one who got to go somewhere fun, and be happy having fun doing stuff all by myself, and now I am missing out on all the fun. Now they were heading off to my favorite camping trip, for my family reunion...without me--What happened? So after trying to change my flight so I could meet up with them for at least one day, and realizing how pointless it was, I let it go. I am still bummed that I had to miss it, but I am glad Rachel got to see my grandparents and all of her second cousins. It will be a fun memory for Sam and Rachel to have... "Remember the time when we drove all the way to Utah, just me and you, and we went camping, and we went fishing, and I caught that fish that was so big that my pole broke, and we got to eat marshmellows..." Let it be said that my husband is fun. He is spontaneous. And he loves his little girl. :-)

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a
gift. That's why it is called the present" --

I saw this quoted on a friends blog and I liked it so I thought I would share it.

My weekend In Orlando

Hey everyone. I am back. I have been in Orlando for the past couple of days--at a convention for work. I don't have time to go into detail about all of the fun I had--but here are a few teasers and maybe you can get an idea of what I was up to.


Off to my girls weekend! Reading-partying..sleeping in! Why the camping picture you ask? Well, it turns out that after I left Sam decided to take Rachel camping in Utah (with my entire extended family)--anyone else find the humor in that? more pictures to come. Saw someone famous, but before I got to run up to him and say "please, please, make me look pretty!" - Nick was out the door to catch a cab.

Here is the inside of the hotel--isn't it great! This is about all I saw of Orlando--because the one time we decided to be fun and go catch the trolley to go out to eat...we sat outside at the stop for 30 minutes-in the rain. Yea, it rains a lot there. Our boss eventually felt sorry for us and let us take his rental car so we did get to get out for a bit.



More famous people and free stuff...not sure who this guy is--but all of the student volunteers were impressed and were lining up to meet him. Apparently he has made a big impact on the beauty world. Then comes the bar(s). YEA BABY! At the end of a very long first day we found ourselves at the bar looking for a bite to eat. Now, it isn't very often that I find myself at a bar at 10pm--so I decided to take full advantage of it. I definitely needed a fun drink. Now, I usually don't even attempt this -out of fear of looking like an amateur--but I decided to be brave. I ordered a stawberry daiquari :-) The only disappointment was that they brought it in a regular glass. What about the fancy glass? and the umbrella??


Fancy drink take 2: We go out to eat for dinner and everyone is ordering drinks. The waiter starts talking about a yummy margarita with orange juice and lime, feeling brave from the other night I say "I will take one of those"-without the alcohol of course. But my excited feeling kind of disappears as he just stares blankly at me. Crap. I should have just ordered a coke. So he finally says "Ya know, I don't think this would taste very good without the alcohol, I think this drink would be kind of bitter." So I have to fess up and tell him I have no idea which drinks taste good without the alcohol--I tell him that I just want a fun drink and I ask him if there is a drink he would suggest. His reply, "Um, I think I would recommend....the lemonade." OUCH!!! Talk about being shot down! The lemonade?! I wasn't the only one who caught this, all my friends from work knew this is not what I was going for, so after getting a good laugh one says, "could you at least bring it in a fun glass," and another one says, "yea, and could you maybe put an umbrella in it?" At least he did that--so I still had fun.
Right before I was about to leave I made one last friend, or shall I say, a BFF. And let me tell you--I am so excited! You know that type of girl who just looks cute and fun and you just want them to be your friend. You know the girl I am talking about. I loved her shoes, but I was afraid to go up and tell her because I was afraid that the rest of my thoughts might spill out as well "I like your shoes...and your shirt...and those pants, and your hair...and I am jealous of your job...can I be you?" LOL! Anyway, after casually envying her from a distance, I actually got a chance to talk to her. I know! And somehow in casual conversation it came up that she should be my personal shopper (since I would be moving to the middle of nowhere). She is about my same size, and it turns out that her clothes were from Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe (totally in my budget). This is no new idea of mine--the thought has come to me before--however this is the first time I actually verbalized it to the person. It truely could work. Just whenever she goes shopping, just pick my up some of whatever she is buying and then mail it to me with a bill. We live in different states, so it isn't like we have the same friends who would notice we dress alike. I will keep you posted on how that works out. But she gave me her number and her e-mail address and I already sent her a quick e-mail and got a reply from her--it was definitely fate that we met. Now, if only I can figure out a way to keep my job so that I can see her at the next convention. hmmmmm.
Got this book to read on the way home! YAY! It was great! Thanks Nicole for letting me know it was coming :-)
And lastly, I arrive home to a house filled with boxes. ??? Apparently our new roommates had to move in a week early. A little confused at first..but all is well and the fun has already begun --more on that to come!

Visiting Teaching

The old way...

The new way!!!

Last week we had a nice visiting teaching pool party. (not so much visiting teaching...as it was party.) How to: Call the girls you visit teach, then have them invite the girls they visit teach ...and so on.

Can someone tell me why this is necessary???

I just don't get it-What is the point of adding this to your blog? (okay--so maybe I am just not very good at them). But sometimes I have to type three of four different words before I pass with flying colors.

I understand why you can require people to sign in before they leave a comment on your blog...but what does this word thingy do? I thought word verifications just kept automated computers from doing things. Are there computers out there trying to leave comments on blogs out there??? Or are you really just trying to test your friends as to how much they really love you...and how bad they want to leave that comment? :-)

Do you ever want to take a step back?

Do you ever get sick of the fast paced life, working hard so you can pay bills, and then working longer and harder so that you have more money to spend on fun stuff...only now you don't have any free time....you get the idea. It is just this huge circle--and the harder you try to get out of it--the more you get stuck. Buying stuff...and more stuff...and wasting hours each week commuting ...and blah blah blah.

Let me just say to all of you Dental school students out there--enjoy your life now! :-) You may feel a little bit short changed, a little tight in the pocketbook--but somehow--taking out all those loans never really stressed me out...however...The repayment phase of ALLLL of those loans...not so much fun!

Sam and I have been feeling that we would love a change of pace. Love a change of scenery. Sam really took this idea to heart and found a job...in the middle of nowhere. No really, I am not exaggerating. Some of you may have wondered why I posted that picture of the cow on the left side bar. We took that picture while we were leaving the town ...where we will soon call home. That's right. I may have been all talk...but Sam is a man of his word. He found a job somewhere...that will definitely be a change of scenery. Still in Arizona...barely :-) (For any of you who think I am crazy for going along with this idea--just know how 'gung-ho' he was to take a job in Nome, Alaska. Do you know where that is? goggle it right now. Not only is it in ALASKA--it is nowhere near a city--in fact there are no roads connecting it to any other city in the state. So let's just say that I jumped on this bandwaggon in order to stay off that one.) :-)

I must say that I have the best husband ever --he explained very clearly that he was thinking only of me-

• Two years here will definitely be "book worthy". (I was kind of complaining that my life in AZ was kind of boring and if I did another blog book --it wouldn't even compare to my boston book because I don't ever go anywhere exciting.)
• I won't have to work (something about a 'native american preference' where all the jobs on the reservation go to native americans)
• I know there were lots more reasons... I just can't think of them right now :-)

In all honesty, we are both excited for this change:

• plenty of outdoor recreation available.
• no chance at being sucked into shopping and wasteful spending (because there are NO STORES!!) ha ha ha ha ha
• no more commuting to work
• a job with a guaranteed salary
• a nice benefit package
• ultimate frisbee every week
• scenic views
• a break from the heat (not as hot as phoenix, and it snows in the winter)

For all of my current friends--don't give up on me yet--I still have a few good months plenty of time for a few good parties. AND we tricked our new tennants (a family member) into allowing us to stay in our house when we come back to visit. (which I think will happen about once a month..although Sam thinks it will be a few more days than that) -- I think I have only seen some of you about once or twice this month--so really it won't be too different. okay. long post alert. must stop typing now.

Ahhhhhhhh

Yesterday I found myself all alone when Sam when to his parent's house and took Rach with him--and I sat and read this book, and ate brownies. This book was really good...or maybe it was just the circumstances and I was just in a good mood--but either way--I liked it. Have you had your alone time yet this week?

Just let them have their fun...

<--Stage 1: Family vacation starts with all the guys arriving with facial hair that is out of control.

Stage 2: -->
They decide to shave..except it isn't as much as we had hoped. Ha ha Ha they are just soooooo funny :-) Surely they have had their laughs and will go and shave them off now...

Stage 3: At this point we realize how good the beards looked! They leave the hideous mustaches --and go out in public! AND On the day we spent ALL DAY at Magic Mountain. Okay--so they win. We had so many people staring at us. I only wish we got some pictures with the few other people who we saw with matching mustaches...our husbands are joking around...but were they?

And--they even had a wonderful artist capture their awesomeness to keep for all time...

Some wives are not supportive of the beard...but I must say--my husband has never been so willing (and actually excited!) to take so many pictures in one day--so I can see that at least for me it has it's benefits. :-)

Don't be deceived by the smile here--he finally shaved only to say, "I miss my beard." I think it is already on it's way back. But I had to take advantage of the opportunity and get a photo at the beach house where we stayed in California. This was taken on the back patio-and yes that is the ocean in the background. I have missed the beach-it was gorgeous, definitely the perfect vacation.

My Pride and Joy

Click HERE to see a preview of the first 15 pages of my book
And watch this slideshow of some additional pages
(FYI--they are not in order and sorry that some of them are blurry-I didn't notice it until now and it took forever so I am not going to fix them--hopefully you can get an idea of what it is supposed to look like)

Girl's Night out

Girls night out at Hilary's - making Mocktails and having girl talk




Hilary's paint that I am going to copy when I am in the mood to paint again (it was her idea..she could tell I was struggling with the whole gray/blue paint in my kitchen). I love it!!! Your house is gorgeous Hilary!

Day at the Beach in Dana Point

Disneyland trip

We were headed to California for a family vacation with Sam's family...but we couldn't miss an opportunity to take Rachel to Disneyland for the first time. We left Arizona at 6am and got to Disneyland around 11.