State Survey & A Promotion

State Survey came to Alpine this week, it was nerve wracking, stressful and exhausting!  But we survived and we even did well!  And the best thing that happened was I got a promotion.  I am officially the Assistant Director of Nursing, ADON!  I am so very excited, very nervous and exhausted just thinking about it, but still excited never the less.  I have been so slammed with work already that I am weary just at the thought of the months to come.  Oh well, ready or not, here it comes!! Yay!!

Elko, again...

We headed to Elko, Nevada once again for a Ximo weekend.  We had a booth at their Outdoor Expo.  It went pretty good, I am more of a salesman than I think.  We were able to stay with Cammie & Kyle once again, which is always fun.  We are lucky they let us keep coming back.  We were even able to have our first "Business Dinner" which was pretty fun!  It was a great show, and a great weekend getaway!

Box Elder County Fair

Yup, we hit up the fair.  And it rocked.  Mostly because of who I was there with.  We got some dinner with Cody, Mom, Dad, Me & Ray.  Then afterwards we hooked up with the best gal around, Mrs. Stacie Lou from Kansas City.  I was so excited to see her, she just so happens to be in town for her sisters wedding.  Luckily, I got to steal her for the night.  I miss her greatly, and her two little munchkins, even her husband!  Addy had a blast playing with my dad, until she slipped and fell then my dad took her to find an EMT for a bandaid and she just kept hanging her arm off to the side, not willing to move it, and kept saying "I need a Doctor!"  It was so funny! We had a great night, were able to catch up and enjoy the good 'ol fair!

Fence Night 2 & Day 3

 We were so fortunate to have wonderful family come to help us with our "little project"!  Friday night my dad and Raymond cemented fence posts into the ground and bright and early (OK it was like 8:30 am) Saturday morning we started building a fence and capping our retaining wall.  These guys were so great that  by 3:00 that afternoon all but 5 feet of our fence was finished...and weeks later we still haven't finished it!  Ha ha, oh well!  It looks so great and we love being able to go in the back yard without any neighbors staring at us!  Oh what a feeling of privacy we have!  Thanks again to everyone that helped, we LOVE it!

The Working Crew

The Entertainment Crew

The Finished Product

Fence Night 1

We started our fence tonight!  Yay!  Raymond and my dad got all the holes dug for the posts! The girls played inside reading books, cooking dinner, playing with sidewalk chalk and loving on Lexi & Briele!

Lexi is really into wearing dresses right now, princess posing and "acting like an old lady"!  She bends over, puts her hand on her pretend cane and in an old crackly voice she cries out "oh my back! it hurts!"!! It's so funny!!

BBQ Time

We had a BBQ with 4 couples from our ward, the Torrey's, Whetton's, Schmucker's and S.Whipple's.  It was really nice to get to know them all better! We had an awesome night and are really excited for the next time we can get together.  When we first moved to Ogden we planned to be here for 3-4 years but now that we are finding great friends to be with, I don't know how quick we will pack up to move.  We are really loving our neighborhood, neighbors, ward, and movie night buddies.  We still try to get together with Thurston's once a week for movies/games or whatever.  We have truly been blessed in our move to Ogden, who would have thought!

Dinner w/Whipple's

We headed to Brigham to have dinner with these 2 fine folks + Jerry.  We had delicious french dip subs, apparently I made the BEST  french dips EVER (just ask Rodger) and milkshakes.  It was fun sitting and visiting, laughing, yelling, fighting (not with us!), and blunt honesty.  It was a kinda crazy day but it was really fun! Rodger & Camille had recently become empty-nesters so we took advantage of the opportunity to have dinner while there weren't large amounts of people to feed!  Hope to see you guys for dinner soon!

Line Creek

We headed up the mountain for a fun night on the mountain, unfortunately we didn't make it very far.  Ray and I were the last heading up and when we were almost there I noticed one of the gate keys had fallen off the key ring.  All we have ever been told about Line Creek is that it is highly private and difficult to access, near impossible to buy the property, you can only have a key if you own more than 60 acres on the mountain and you certainly will not loose your key because that may mean SUDDEN DEATH.  Needless to say, I was freaking out.  We began walking down the mountain looking for a needle in a haystack...oh wait a key but it was still the same.  My dad came by, saw the situation and went to notify Steve & Jodi (who were the official keepers of the keys).  Steve and Jodi then came down and many of the others and for a total of 4 hours between 2 and 10 people were looking for the key.  We all had a constant pleading prayer in our hearts that we would find the key.  2 hours later when we still hadn't found the key Jodi suggested a group prayer because all of us together out loud would be way more potent...right?  2 hours later, still no key and the sun setting we had to get off the mountain. The next morning Steve & Jodi spent another 4 hours searching with no success.

 I have to admit, I was frustrated for many reasons.  1) We had spent 8 hours looking for a key on a mountain 2) we did not even have an ounce of fun up there and Ray & I hadn't even been able to eat dinner 3) we prayed, prayed and prayed and still nothing.  Raymond said well Heaven can't answer all of our prayers and me being frustrated and a bit ignorant couldn't help but think of all the things I have prayed for in the last few months and years, mainly being a baby, and nothing.  Therefore I thought it wouldn't be too much to ask for one stupid little key! I obviously needed a lesson in humility.  Point taken.  The more I think about it the more I realize perhaps we were supposed to lose that key, perhaps it prevented something bad from happening and we should be grateful for the diversion in our plans.  Steve called to tell me what the owners of the key had to say, he knew I had been stressed about it.  Turns out they felt bad that we spent so much time and effort looking for it, so bad that they took Steve & Jodi cookies to apologize.  Steve's in-laws were also able to talk to the makers of the keys and they will be getting a new key no problem.  Things did work out, our prayers were answered in a way, first I just needed to learn a lesson.  I feel like I have lost so much control over my life for the last few months and I am having an incredibly difficult time trying to regain control. I am just so tired, in so many different ways.  

Martin Harris Pageant

We had the opportunity to go to the Martin Harris Pageant this year. It had been years since I had gone so it was nice to see again.  They had changed so much that it felt like an all new show. We hit up El Parrell for dinner before the show, we sure do love that place.  Thanks for a fun night Dayne & Mom.

Goin to the Fair

We had a great time at the fair.  We had good food, great company, and fun things to look at.  The girls enjoyed the horse rides, well Lexi screamed for the first round hence why Cody is riding with her! Like I have said previously, I really like fairs.  Raymond not so much.  But he is getting to like them more which is great for me!  Steve & Jodi bought a new toy there, Jodi's "Barbie Jeep" but Madi, Halli & Lexi were certain they should have bought the little kid one!  It was so cute and they just loved it but it would be so scary to let them drive it around by themselves!

5 years!!

Raymond and I have been married for 5 years!  I can't believe it! We still feel like newlyweds but at the same time I can't remember what life was like before him!  We both had to work on our anniversary and the summer has been full of trips and fun and will end in Hawaii in October so we just took it easy and headed to the good 'ol cache valley fair to hang out with the family!  I love fairs, Raymond is learning to not detest them. We had a great time playing with the family and the little girlies.  I am a very lucky woman, my husband is far better to me than I deserve and life just wouldn't be this great without him.  Dear, I have loved the last 5 years (both the good and the bad) and look forward to the next 50 or 60!!

Sad Story of a Home Owner

Guess what finally kicked the bucket the day we left for an 8 day vacation....our water heater.  Super huh.  Saturday Raymond got home from scout camp and was trying to get cleaned up when I went downstairs and noted a large waterfall of water draining from the upstairs bathroom into the basement soaking everything within a 5 foot radius.  Great right, oh well we just won't shower (sorry friends, family & neighbors!).  Sunday I was working and Ray called stating instead of a tiny bit of water next to the water heater (which showed up a few days prior while the hubby was at scout camp (perfect time for it huh) there is now copious amounts of water throughout our laundry area (thankfully there is a floor drain right next to the water heater or it would have really been EVERYWHERE!)  So we simply drained whatever water was remaining in the plumbing/water heater throughout the house, turned off the water, and went on vacation.  Talk about shutting your mind off from all the woes at home!  Well fast forward through blissful vacation, get home from a 9 hour trip (due to stopping for parts, returning parts, dropping off my dad & his boat), try to turn the water back on to take care of business and....crap.  Not literally but rhetorically.  We had SLIM to NONE water pressure, and what water did come out was rusty chunky crud for several more minutes than what was comforting.  I had an easier time showering on the houseboat than in my own house.  So Tuesday we went and spent tons of money to buy all the replacement stuff and then Wednesday it all went down...or up?  

Raymond and my dad were amazing and they completely RE-PLUMBED my entire house and moved and put in a NEW WATER HEATER all in one night!  That night ended around 5 am but still it was amazing!  The next couple days were spent fixing leaks (don't use plumbers putty) and replacing shower & sink faucets for better water pressure!  It is amazing how much easier it is to "take a quick shower" now that I can rinse my hair in less than 5 minutes!  You guys are amazing, I am incredibly lucky to have both these men willing and able to do anything that may arise in the sad life of a home owner!

**We really love being homeowners but sometimes  every time something breaks it is at a hugely inconvenient time!**

**We also have this trailer load of lumber waiting in our driveway for a new fence and storage room to take place!  Yay!! Oh and a sump pump should be coming soon so hopefully we stop swimming in the basement!

Side Note:  The plumbing was finished the morning of our 5th Anniversary!  I can't believe 5 years has come and gone!

August 11, 2006 4 AM:  curling hair, makeup, giddy nerves, headed to the temple to marry my best friend

August 11, 2011 4 AM:  plumbing, plumbing, and more plumbing

Wow life changes, but I love it all the same!

Lake Powell 2011

Lake Powell this year was wonderful, as always.  Not so good: food ( I was responsible for all the food for everyone for the whole week which was ALOT of work).  Great: the cute little girls who are crazy and fun and had a blast with having a "sleep over" for a whole week, the weather, the tasty food, family, relaxation, water, the views, and so much more.  The good definitely outweighed the bad!  We had amazing weather the whole week with a couple good wind storms mid-day but for the most part it was not to hot and not to cold. We spent lots of time swimming, the little girls are getting super brave in the water so we spent more time swimming than in the sand.  We fed lots of ducks, watched a few movies (courtesy of Uncle Ray), played lots of card games, did lots of tubing and boarding, went sight-seeing, watched fireworks (courtesy of Gpa & Steve) and had an overall AMAZING time! We were sad grandma & grandpa weren't here due to their mission in Hawaii but it was still wonderful! I took SO many pictures which have been greatly narrowed down but I still have so many listed below!

I just loved this shot I got, it is so gorgeous here!

L-R: Cody, Steve, Ray, Cody

Playing with the exposure on my camera, too bad Ray & I look like we drew a butt not a heart!

The little girls had a blast doing "tricks on the tube"! (Top Left)

The boys got super trashed on the tube!

My Family (we should start taking a picture at the beginning of the week NOT the end!!)

Another shot I just love!  Man, my family is special!

I tried scuba diving for the first time & Ray spent his night trying to spear fish!!

We didn't have nearly as many people this year which was good and bad! We missed everyone but it was kinda nice only squeezing a maximum of 25 people on the boat this year!  The last night was actually just me, Ray & my dad so we had a chance to RELAX before taking the boat in the next morning.  And yes, the three of us successfully took the houseboat in and emptied & filled everything we needed and got it to the slip without any problem!  We were pretty proud of ourselves!! Goodbye Lake Powell, can't wait until next time (except next time we may be fasting!!)!!