Busy Busy Life!

This is a really old picture but it perfectly represents my life right now. Out of control.

I don't remember the last time I was this busy but I also don't remember the last time I was this content in my life, either. Normally when I'm crazy busy like this, I let it stress me out and my family and my life fall apart. I keep waiting for the panick to set in that I'm not going to get everything done, but its not coming. Maybe I'm growing up, maybe I've learned to deal with it better, or maybe I'im just in a better place in my life. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful because my plate is REALLY full right now!

Vance, Josh, Layton, and I all spoke in Church yesterday so for the last 2 weeks I've been working on our talks. I'm the new Cub Master in the ward and our Blue and Gold Banquet is tomorrow so for the last week I've been making invitations, planning a menu, planning a program, picking up awards, making decorations, and shopping for supplies. Our Pinewood Derby is just around the corner too, so I've been trying to get a jump on that too, buying the cars for the boys, planning the event, and gathering materials. We are heading down to the valley tomorrow night right after we clean up the Blue and Gold Banquet and will probably roll into town after midnight. Then we'll get up early in the morning and set up a wedding all day, then attend the wedding, and then take it all down that night. Vance will head back home the next day to go to work but the boys and I will stay at my mom's till Saturday so that we can help Josh's good buddy, Alex, with his Eagle Project. Next week I'll be making a 3 tiered cake for our Relief Society Birthday Dinner and helping make the centerpieces and decor because I'm also on the Enrichment Committee. I have also started the 24 foot long 8 foot high mural of an enchanted forest I will be donating to Saint Johns High School for their prom in April. We are hosting a game night next weekend with the group of friends we play games with once a month too, so thats another thing we need to get ready for. And Josh is going to start having track meets to go to and Layton starts baseball in 3 weeks. Then Vance and the boys are going down to Havasu Falls over Spring Break with the scouts. In between all this, we have been doing drywall upstairs and my house is covered in a constant layer of white dust so I'm cleaning all the time. I find time for laundry and dishes and bathrooms occassionally, and I love taking JoJo for his walks. But what I love the most is when Vance and I get to hang out with good friends. We still make time to go out, to play games, to go to the Temple, and to watch tv sometimes together. Sometimes my sister Amy comes and spends the weekend with us and we always have a good time. Vance is always working on some project around the house or outside. We stay so busy that you'd think we never slow down, and if you blink, you'll miss the times when we do slow down, but I've never been more happy. Its a crazy life we live but we know it won't be like this forever. Someday our projects will all be done and we won't know what to do with ourselves, but what fun it will be to come up with stuff to do to fill our time!

JoJo got some new friends!

Bishop's wife knocked on our door this morning and asked if we wanted 4 of her chickens. They were getting picked on by her other chickens. So we now have 4 chickens! JoJo wasn't sure what he thought of them and just sniffed them out for a minute before he barked like a maniac at them. Throughout the day, he's calmed down and now he just patrols the perimeter of the coop, keeping a close eye on them. Hopefully he will eventually get bored with them. Vance's mom got a new little puppy named Missy. Missy is a toy PomPoo (half pomeranian and half poodle) and she's very hyper. She likes to jump all over JoJo and scratch his face. JoJo is such a good boy, he just takes it, but after a while, he has to remind her who's boss with a friendly nip. I think these cousins will learn to get along fine.

My Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's Day came a little early this year for me. Vance bought me a new wedding ring. This past summer, I dropped mine in the lake while we were swimming. It was devastating and I cried for weeks. I loved my ring. I wore it for almost 16 years and it had become a part of me. I never took it off. And on top of losing my ring, Vance lost his wedding ring at the river two weeks earlier. How awful is that? I had found a silver men's wedding band in the dirt a few years ago and put it in my jewelry box. Of all the crazy things, it fit Vance's finger perfectly. Its old and scratched but it works. So he's been wearing it. I've been wearing no ring and I hate it! So you can imagine my elation that I now have a wedding ring again! It will never compare to my original ring, but it is very beautiful and I absolutely love it! Its quite significant that he gave it to me for Valentine's Day too, because he gave me my first ring on Valentine's Day back in 1996. I know I am a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful husband. And I know it really doesn't matter if I have a ring or not, I know he loves me and I love him. My ring is just icing on the cake!!!

Daily Bread

I made bread yesterday and of course, anyone who knows me very well, knows I am a trainwreck in the kitchen. I can usually come up with something tasty but at a cost! The cost being the mess I make of the kitchen and the mockery from Vance. My messes drive him crazy. He thinks its really easy to avoid flinging flour onto every surface within 10 feet of me when I'm baking. He thinks I could easily avoid using every single pot, pan, dish, spoon, cup, and bowl we own when I'm cooking. He thinks I have time to clean counters during my cooking process. He thinks following a recipe without skipping ingredients or miscalculating them when I double or triple them is easy! He thinks its ridiculous that I keep preheating the oven before removing the stuff inside (last nights pizza boxes this time). He thinks I could boil water just once without having it overflow onto the floor. And just once, he expects me to make sure I have all the ingredients I need BEFORE I start baking so he won't have to rush to the store mid-recipe. He really does ask a lot of me! But its all in fun because while I am a trainwreck in the kitchen, at least I make an effort! And I know he appreciates that. Besides, he has his own little issues in the kitchen as well. Vance is a really good cook and we are very grateful that he enjoys it (or we wouldn't eat!) but he has a really bad habit of not turning off the stove or the oven when he's done. We've come home from 3 hours of church sometimes and found the stove still burning hot. Once, he left some corndogs in the toaster oven for l over 6 hours and that was a fun smokie little surprise when we got home! The corndogs were so burned, they just crumbled in our hands when we went to throw them out. I am so excited to be getting a complete kitchen make-over next month. All the cabinets are getting taken out and replaced with new ones. New countertops too! And a new sink and new backsplash! Vance just built me a new pantry last week! So I'm feeling like I need to start justifying it all and I've taken to the kitchen! I made bread yesterday. I figured I'd double the recipe so it would last longer. Oops! My poor kitchenaid wasn't large enough to hold it all! It was overflowing out of the bowl. And the yeast I was dissolving in warm water...ya....I didn't use a big enough cup and it grew and grew and grew out of control till it was all over the counter and dripping down the cabinets. Of course, this all happened while I was at Bashas buying more flour because of course I didn't make sure I had enough before I started. My kitchen looked like a snow storm hit after I fired up the mixer and tried to blend in the flour. And by the time I had used up almost every bowl in my cupboard trying to fix all these little set-backs, my sink was overflowing and my dishwasher was on over-load. Not to mention all the mopping I had to do. I wish I had thought to take a picture because it really is hard to believe! So really, trainwreck is a mild word to describe my attempts in the kitchen but danged if I didn't bake some beautiful loaves of bread! They were beautiful! And so sweet! And I had leftover dough enough to make fry bread for dinner too! Yum! Of course I had to endure the rolling eyes of my husband as he observed the state of our kitchen when I brought him in to show him my perfect loaves, but he ate my bread and he loved it! I'm not giving up. I've been trying to learn to use a kitchen for over 15 years and eventually I've gotta get it, right?

Days of Summer and Warmth, Come Back!

Warm summer days seem so far in the distant past. Winter is still in full swing and I'm already dreaming of the sun! Growing up in Gilbert, people used to ask me how I could stand the heat of the summer months with temperatures getting up into the 120's at times. I LOVE the heat! I would rather sweat than freeze any day! Yet, here I am, living in the White Mountains, freezing my honeybuns, and longing for summer! I can't say I miss the valley, but I do miss the warmth sometimes so its a trade-off. And while I don't ever plan to live there again, who says we can't visit? We had some really fun times in the Arizona summers of Gilbert. Times like these:The above picture is Josh being pulled on a tube behind the boat at Saguaro Lake. Below is Josh, Layton, and Vance riding the go-carts in Show Low.Below, Josh is helping Cooper, Eliza, and Layton shoot Kevin's bow and arrow in Pinedale at the Hoopes' Cabin.

Josh and Layton love to ride the quads at Grannie and Poppies house in Pinedale.

Vance really wants JoJo to learn to love to swim but he won't get in on his own. We have to carry him in and hold him and then he likes it. Especially on those really hot days.

Our garden really grew well and Layton loved picking the vegetables so we could make salsa!

Sunsplash was always a favorite for the boys.

Tubing down the Salt River is something we did every summer, sometimes multiple times.

Josh loves to build rockets. Sometimes we'd go over to Mesa High to launch them. He let Layton pull the trigger on this one.

Layton, Vance, and Josh love jumping off this cliff at Saguaro Lake. It was too high up for me!

Vance did an insanely crazy thing and jumped from this cliff that had to be at least 80 feet up from the water. No thank you!!!

I hate this picture of me but its really good of Vance and of the water and sky in Mexico. This was our 14th Wedding Anniversary we celebrated in Rocky Point. Our relationship started there back in 1993. I could live there. Its one of my most favorite places on earth. I miss it!

Layton, Eliza, and Amanda play well together. This is Julie's backyard. The green grass makes me warm just looking at it!

Layton, Emily, and Andrew spent a lot of time swinging in the hammock in our campsite at Big Lake. We try to go every July.

Big Lake is one of the most beautiful places! Our family loves to camp and fish. Good times!

Its February now so June really isn't that far away. I can't wait to make more fun summer memories to add to the ones we've already made!