Our Twentieth Anniversary

David and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on Wednesday night. We didn't have big plans but the night felt magical anyway. We started off with dinner at Chilli's, a movie and then home for a little dessert that I had prepared. I placed a plate before Dave and asked him to figure out what everything represented. Gummy Bears from our first date to see Cats at Gammage, chocolate covered strawberries from our honeymoon night and macadamia clusters from our honeymoon vacation in Hawaii. He had a little treat for me too as he brought out two cans of cherry 7Up, the drink we served at our reception. How sweet that he even found "diet 7Up" for me since I am still on my "no sugar" kick. We had a great time reminiscing and sharing fun cards with each other. I know it wasn't much for such a big anniversary but it felt just right for some reason.

Dave came home with 2 dozen pink roses for me. I advised he should have only bought 20, one for each year we were married. He advised the other 4 were for good luck. :o)

We shared a yummy dinner of steak and shrimp. It was the best steak I've had in years. We had such a great dinner talking about the past 20 years and all that we have done, accomplished and also what lies a head for us.

I can honestly say that our marriage has not been all "peaches n cream", we have had a few moments, months and even a few years that have been a little difficult, but in the end, I find much joy in our relationship. Dave is my best friend and has always been. I love him with all my heart and plan on sharing soooo many more years in matrimonial bliss with him. Happy Anniversary Babe.. I LOVE YOU.

Freshman , Five and Phlebotomy

Andelyn is now a high school student and Amelia is entering 5th grade. Sorry no pictures of Ammah but she did start her phlebotomy school last month, I'll see if I can catch her in her scrubs one day.

August 11th was all a buzz in our house as the girls were putting on their fresh new school clothes and checking to make sure their hair was just right. Amelia rides the bus to and from school this year and we are so close to Andy's school that she just walks. Yeah..... for the 1st time in 14 years I do not have to take a kid to school or pick them up. Seriously! Do you know how awesome that is??? Do you? Well, unless you have done as much pick up and drop off as I have done over the years you may not understand my giddiness, for those of you who know the route so well you can do it blindfolded and in your sleep...you are gettin me right now.

Just wanted to share a few pics of my girls first day outfits. I loved the shoes this year and had to get a few close ups.

I love fresh new school clothes. Brings back tons of memories of my own first days of school. So exciting it always was meeting your new teacher and seeing all your friends after a long summer break.

Ammah, Andelyn and Amelia - God bless you in your school days this year. Do your best and return with honor.

Have You Ever??

Have you ever swam in a pool of chocolate milk? Well we haven't either but... Gila Box in Safford is probably going to be the closest we ever get to swimming in chocolate milk. "Gustav, save some room for later". No we did not taste it. Well. I guess I can't actually say that I didn't taste it because for some reason I couldn't keep my mouth shut while we were having a huge mud fight. I'm talking filthy, completely covered, mud in places you really don't wanna have mud kinda mud fight. I convinced my good friend Rebecca that we really should have a mud fight, because when else would we get the chance and our kids would never forget it. So..... I casually picked up a gigantic wad of slimy mud and pretended to be looking at something in the mud, as the kids came closer I let em have it and ooooh the fight was on. I think Amelia got the worst of it but she didn't really care because in the end she and Lilly were wallowing in it like little piggies.

The girls and I like to visit my long time friend Rebecca and her family in Safford every year. It's one of the highlights of our year. This year we visited during July 24th Pioneer Day Celebration. There were cookouts, BB Q's, swim parties, fireworks, a parade and we even squished in a few hours of baptisms at the new Temple. The Evans Family was in charge of a branch float this year during the parade and asked if Andelyn and Amelia would like to join in the fun. Scott and Rebecca were "Root Beer" floats and the kids ran around dressed all in brown and handed out root beer candies to all the parade goers.

Havasupai Falls

I would love to say that I was lucky enough to be part of this awesome trip Andelyn was privileged enough to go on but alas my expertise in hiking and rock climbing was not needed :OP This is the trip the youth in our ward were able to make for Youth Conference this year. It was entitled "Journey to the Promise Land". Fitting for sure. Andelyn said it was the prettiest place she had ever seen with her own eyes. They hiked down into the canyon at Midnight, 12 miles down and stayed at camp for two days. They hiked back out on the 3rd day in the middle of the night as well. They all wore head lamps to light the way. It's just to hot to hike during the day so hiking in the dark is almost a necessity. Andelyn loved everything about it except the two giant blisters she had on the back of her heels. Apparently she had the least of the blisters and I think she actually got off a lot better than some of the other hikers. Several of her leaders told me that Andelyn was an amazing hiker. She was one of the first to hike out to the top beating out all but 1 other boy in her group.

Hmmmm - can you guess what time it is?

Yup, you guessed it. Or if you didn't guess it. It's recital time. Interestingly enough, for some reason I didn't get any pictures of Andelyn in her costumes. Yes, we bought a few from the stage photography but I didn't really get any snap shots of her this year. I happened to be at the studio the day Amelia had most of her pictures so I snapped a few outside. These 4 little girls are the best of friends in dance class. They actually spend about 5 hours a week with each other dancing and so it's no surprise that they are such good friends. They belong to a Company group that has been together since they were 6 and this years recital was their 4th year to dance together.

What a beautiful ballerina pose from my sweet little Amelia. She loves all her classes and absolutely adores dance. Both Amelia and Andelyn take tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip hop.

Long Time, No Entry

Okay, I have to admit that I don't actually like the way this blog site works. I have been having a hard time getting my pictures and text to go where I want them to go and I usually just end up giving up. Especially if I have a lot to put on one post and I have to figure out what happened in backwards order. Maybe I am lame and not getting the way posts should work but I find that I am having a hard time. Alas, all my excuses aside I decided I would just post a few pics and right a tad bit for each one no matter what today. So here goes. May the pictures fall where they may.

My sweet little baby girl turned 10 on the last day of February and we decided to have a little friends party. Amelia invited 5 little girls over and they played games galore and ate a wholotta CANDY. The best game ended up being the most simple of them all. We blew up a beach ball and I wrote silly questions all over the ball. The girls threw the ball around and who ever caught the ball had to answer the question that their right thumb was closest too.

She also cut 12 inches off of her very long hair. I seriously cried as I cut but in the end it was pretty cut and Amelia loves it. That's all that really matters anyway.

SUGAR FREE

So.... I made myself a little itsy bitsy New Years resolution this year. I'm out to conquer sugar. Yup, no treats for a year. No cookies, no cake, no pie, no muffins, no soda pop, no candy, no chocolate, no jelly etc. Yes, sugar is in just about everything so I'm not going absolutely nuts with the sugar police. I still have a bowl of Cherrios or bread or ketchup, for heavens sake even oatmeal has 1 gram of sugar in it. It's been almost 2 months and I've only had one slip and that was a licked finger of jelly while making lunch one day for the girls. Ooops, old habits die hard. Anyway, just because I am riding on the insane train doesn't mean my family is following me down the same track. I decided to make myself bake the usual treats every week or so and sugar cookies during Valentines was no exception. I must confess that I did smell a few cookies several times but you've gotta give me some props for not licking a single frosted finger while decorating over 100 sugar cookies to the max. And when I say to the max I mean the MAX. We had chocolate and vanilla frosting, red hots, conversation hearts, m&m's, licorice and all manner of sprinkles. Cookies are my biggest weakness and sugar cookies with just a smidgen of frosting are my absolute favorite. I know it sounds nuts but I actually feel proud of myself for this commitment I have made. Now... whether this no sugar thing will affect the shape of my body I am doubtful since I have actually gained 2 lbs since I started. Go figure!