Thanksgiving 2012

I am grateful for many things in my life.  I am thankful for the big and little things that happen in our lives to guide us and inspire us to be better people.  I am thankful for answers to prayers and I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who blesses us with so much.  I am grateful to be working on my education at this point in my life.  Being able to go to school has helped my realize what really is important in my life and has helped me to set goals so that me and my family can grow and become stronger and more loving.  I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is always so supportive of me and I don't think I could get through life without him.  I am thankful for family and friends who are supportive to us.  Without their love and support I don't know where we would be.  I am thankful for my dogs and them being apart of our family.  They help us and support us through all the stress of school and whatever life throws at us.  They are a source of unconditional love for us and when we have had a hard day at school we are so lucky to have them to come home to.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving!!

Quick update...

We have been so busy since school has started back up.  Our days are filled with school, homework, and studying.  We so look forward to our weekends when we can just relax and get some sleep and do things around the house that we didn't get to earlier in the week.  

School is going well and we are surviving.  We are also counting down the days till we get done with the semester!

We can definitely tell that Fall is here.  We wake up in the morning and find that it is maybe around 20 degrees and the high for the day is around 45-50 degrees.  Yeah, a new definition of Fall for us.  I do have to say that I am enjoying the colors that the trees are turning and how crisp the air is.

Well, that is our life in a nut shell for now!

Hope all is well with everyone out there!

Lovin' the Summer

We have been down in Salt Lake spending time with some of our extended family. We love it here because there is so much to do for both us and our dogs. We love the parks that we can take walks in with our dogs. We love being close to down town and all that lively atmosphere it brings. We love being able to make new memories together as a family.  Jon and I were able to celebrate our anniversary here as well (we went and got a couples massage and boy was that amazing!) We are having such a wonderful summer and I can now say that I like the hot summer way better than a cold winter!

Belle waiting to go out on a walk to play with her ball at the park :)

Olivia soaking up some of the summer time sunshine :)

Indie trying to stay cool in the shade (it has been in the high 90s here)

Summer 2012

This summer has been full of firsts.  I haven't had such an active summer in a long time, but I think it is safe to say that we are having a blast!  We don't miss homework or being in the classroom one bit... well, I don't miss Jon having hours upon hours of homework.  I love being able to go out with him and explore and do fun things together.  When we moved here to Idaho, I made myself promise that I would try everything at least once (good things that make me better, of course!).  I am proud to say that there have been many firsts this summer and I hope that there are many more to come!!

One of the firsts that I had was floating down the river in an inner tube!  Who knew that it would take me 24 years to accomplish this goal!?  Let's just say that I am not one for river water and the fact that there are fish in it... makes me feel yucky, but I overcame that!  We decided that it would be a fun family trip so we ended up taking our dogs with us...let's just say that it wasn't as peaceful as we were hoping, but a fun memory nonetheless!  (all photos in this post are random from the internet since we forgot our camera on all our adventures... I know, bad us!)

This is what we thought it would be like relaxing down the slow peaceful river:

And this is what it was like actually going down the river (except with our two small dogs on my inner tube and our one big dog on my husband's inner tube):

We laughed our way down the river and had lots of fun soaking up the sun and enjoying the cool water.  We did have a minor set back when Indie got "sea sick" and threw up in my lap while going down the river.  Boy, that was fun, but I can be grateful that we were in water and that we could just go to the shore and use the river to wash off.  It took us around three hours to go down this river just a short distance (maybe close to two miles, yes it was a slow moving river.  I had to start with something I knew I could handle and since my husband knows me so well I thank him for starting me off with a gentle push down the river)  I never thought I would like anything more than the beaches of California, but floating down the river was fun and definitely something I would do again!

After that adventure we knew that our dogs didn't like the "motion of the ocean" and so we chose to leave them at home when we ventured out to try paddle boarding!

Here is a picture of what it looks like: 

If only we were in that good of shape ;)

We happened to choose the same calm stretch of river for this adventure since we were both new at this paddle boarding thing. He got the hang of it right away (or so it seemed), but it was so difficult at first for me because I hadn't been formally taught about how to paddle a floating device by myself.  I am so grateful for my husband's patience in teaching me the correct way to do this so that I could get down the river instead of the winds pushing me back up stream (note from husband: I think I was more confused than she was when the wind pushed her up stream at the same rate she floated downstream, there was like no wind that day).  We had so much fun doing this!  I would totally recommend this for a fun activity!  We took a cooler with some water and snacks and had a picnic with both our boards put together.  Funnest picnic ever!  What made this ride down the river an even cooler first for us what that we saw a real moose!!  With it's scoops for antlers and all!! (note from hubby again: Michelle didn't know how to tell a moose from elk, and the "scoopines" of the antlers was the only way I could help her recognize the difference).  It was my first ever moose sighting and I was so so so excited to see it... I know some people would be scared, but I thought it was cool.  We also had three cows come down to the river bank and drink some water just a few feet from us.  Let's just say our next adventure had big shoes to fill, what will we see in the wild next... a lion?  tiger?  probably a bear! (They are indigenous to South East Idaho after all). 

Jon found a cool place to explore while browsing the internet, and it was free! so we decided to make our way out there.  It is known as the Civil Defense Caves (although we only went in one big long cave).  

Here is the opening to the cave:

We decided that our dogs our probably prefer this trip over the last two since this one was on solid ground.  We were right, to a certain extent.  The big rocks that you see right in the opening to the cave are solid, but our dogs are not rock climbing dogs... they are big wusses.  Once we were over that part and the land became flat then we were able to enjoy the exploring of the cave more.  I had never been cave exploring in  a long dark cave, but it was fun.  It made me a little uneasy in some areas because of how low the cave ceiling became at some points, but we made it a good ways in and decided that we had better come back with coats and a little more than just water so that we could go further in.  

All in all we have had a wonderful summer and are up for many more adventures before school starts.  They all don't have to be outdoors, but they can be filled with fun and excitement for us.

Summer time!

So, for us the above picture is not as true as we would like.  School is out in Summer and school starts back up in Summer as well!!  For now we are hoping that we just take in what pause from school that we do get.  A lot has happened since May the 4th.  Here are some pictures that some up the happenings for us.

We went to go see Bill Cosby when he was here on tour in the area!  It was fun to have an evening of laughter and relaxation.  We so need to do more of this, but school and studying come first.  We will have the rest of our lives after school to spoil ourselves with fun activities.

Speaking of school, this was us the past few months.  But for a more updated version you should picture us both on computers instead.  We are learning to be back in the groove of studying and taking tests.  We are counting down the time when we will be able to be done with school and back to living life.  

The last, but biggest thing that has happened since the last post is the big move we made.  This is a view of the complex that we moved in to.  I do not ever want to do that again while in the middle of a semester!  It was extremely stressful and tiring.  We are grateful for being able to find a place in such a short time and we are adjusting well to it.  Hopefully we will be settled in within the next month or so.  Right now we still have boxes everywhere because we just had to get out the important stuff and focus on the school work.  

Hope all is well with everyone and that you are enjoying the Summer!  We are loving the warm weather and being able to go without wearing a jacket outside.  Wonderful!  

The force

May the 4th be with you always!

And if you happen to have a little green dude helping you along the way, then even more power to you!

Guilty...

I posted, at one point in time, about Shabby Apple and my love for the designs on their website.  I just love the stuff they have on there.  One dress caught my eye and someday (after school and all) want to have it in my closet so that I can wear it.

Click here to see the beautiful dress!

They also have this cool thing on there where you can find out what dresses will fit your body shape the best, smart thinking!  I definitely have a hard time finding dresses that fit me because of my broad (not football player broad, just lady like broad) shoulders.  What I mean by that, as if you would like to know, is that my shoulders match just about the same width as my hips.  What can I say, I am a girl with curves (and a husband who loves them too!). Going back to my point, it is always hard to find dresses that fit properly so I love that they have that little "test" to see what designs on their site would fit you best (especially since we are not the same body shape throughout our whole lives... unless you are Barbie).

Shabby Apple is my guilty pleasure and my way to window shop right now. :)

Spring is here!!!

I am so happy to have Spring here and to have the sun out!  I missed the sun so much during the winter and now love every minute I can get with it being out in the blue sky.  I am looking forward to having Spring Break be here so that there will be no school alarms or tests to worry about.  I am looking forward to having my sisters come to visit.  I am looking forward to visiting family in Utah and to see Sam get baptized (click here to find simple truths about baptism).  I am looking forward to the fun times to be had through out Spring and hope that I find out more fun things to do around here.

Here are some pictures I took as the first signs of Spring showed up

Just for the heck of it

There is a blog that I follow because I love the way the blogger presents her messages and I admire the fact that she is trying to find if she can "truly have [her] cake and eat it too" as her blog says. I find her message can be inspiring at times.  She writes real life on her blog not just a happy-sun-shines-and-daisies, but struggles and things that she wishes she were better at.  A person who not only can identify their flaws, but can announce them to the blogging world is a person who can be comfortable in their own skin and can give advice as well as take it. I don't have kids, but some day I will, and so I love to hear her stories about her daughter.  I understand her inner battle of wanting to work and fulfill herself so that she can have a time and place for herself while still being a mom.  I identify with her in the whole wanting/planning/preparing for children, but when the time is right.

Anyways, just for the heck of it I entered a contest on her blog to win a really pretty dress from Shabby Apple.  If you haven't been to their website, well go there!!  They have some of the cutest clothes!!  Someday, I want to have some of their dresses in my closest!  It is a dream of mine... may sound shallow, but seriously if you go check out their website then you will want some of their clothes in your closet too!

Here is the website to the blog that I was talking about (along with a picture of the dress I loved!): http://babymakingmachine.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-mini-mod-17-and-shabby.html

Here is Shabby Apple's website: http://www.shabbyapple.com

I hope you have fun looking around!

Beauty

In my last post I had mentioned that living up here has made me realize that living in the snow has its perks.  One of those perks is being able to watch mother nature act in a way I never knew before.  I love the sights and sounds of snow.  I don't have to look far to admire the beauty that is all around me here when snow does make its way down.

I took the following photo because it is one of the first times I had seen an icicle in real life, right before my eyes

Ok, so there are a lot of little ones on it, but still I say it counts. :)  I also like the way the picture flows and for some reason it captures my eyes and makes me reflect on lines and how they can create a picture.


This next photo was cool for me because it took me back to my jr. high science class when we grew rock candy crystals in the lab.  I remember them tasting horrible, but they looked so cool.  The fact that I had grown them and that the experiment actually turned out was what made me so proud that day.

I took this next photo because I have always loved the look of trees all nicely aligned.  Maybe it is because I am naturally a person who likes to be organized.  Maybe it is because I find it fascinating that it is so abnormal for trees to be growing all aligned like soldiers.  I just know that this was a moment in time that I wanted to remember and wanted to capture so that I could hold on to the memories of it.

In this next picture wanted to capture the drift of the snow.  As you may well know I am new to the abilities of snow and I was fascinated this particular day to see how the snow lands on different parts of the branches.  When snow falls, it goes everywhere... duh, but my point being is that there are millions and billions of snow flakes falling, how is it that some land on branches and decorate the leaf-ridden tree to dress it for winter.

Here is another example of how the snow decorated my tree out in the front yard.

Growing up on the Central Coast of California and being able to watch the sunset on the beach I thought I was spoiled to see the most wonderful sunsets ever.  I thought that there would never be anything more beautiful then to see the sun going down past the ocean, as if it is sinking in to the water to light the world under the ocean.  I am delighted to say that some of the sunsets here have proven me wrong.  The sun may not be setting on the ocean, but it definitely gives a good show for setting behind the mountains.  I couldn't help but be so very grateful for the ability to watch the sunset and to see the gorgeous colors that it brings on.

This picture was taken on one of the most windy/snowy days we have seen.  The heavy snow had fallen and it was still coming down a little bit, but the winds were spreading it everywhere.  The picture looks like it is fuzzy and maybe looks like it is out of focus, but that is the winds and the snow blustering around outside.  It was so cool to see the looser snow gliding across the packed snow.  It was cool to step in an actual foot of snow.  This was the first time it had snowed hard enough to bring a bunch of it to our back yard.  I was so excited that I went outside to go play.  My dogs came out with me too and we all went crazy playing in the snow that went to just under my knees.

This last photo is one that I absolutely love.  It captures the winter wonderland that came and went so soon.  I  can honestly say that this is one of the prettiest things I have seen that snow can do.

I am blessed to be able to see winter this year and to experience the new life style that it brings.  I can say that I am so ready for Spring, ready to see all the trees around my house with leaves on them and ready for the birds and the flowers.  I am ready for the warmth that comes with the new season.  I hope everybody's winter was as fun as mine and that Spring time brings new life and happiness to you!

Snow...

The definition for snow is: frozen precipitation that falls in small white flakes.

To the natives here in Idaho, this year was a very very light winter, but to me, as a first time dweller in the snow, I thought it was enough to get the idea that snow is kinda fun and can be very pretty at times.  It can also be overrated, slippery, annoying and just plain cold.

We have loved the snow for the most part and made some new memories being able to play in it.  My sister, Carolyn, knew of a great hill on campus where we could go sledding.

Before we started we saw a well built snowman and just couldn't resist the picture opportunity.

After our photo-op with the snowman we turned our eyes toward the hill.  The hill looked amazingly fun from the bottom of it.  The climb up it in the snow was hard because there were no formal steps or a path to go up, so we just chose a spot and started climbing and climb we did.  It was almost straight up at some points.  Never fear though, we made it to the top (as you can tell from the picture below).  I was so nervous because I was scared that the bumps we had used on the way up to help grasp would in turn make for a bumpy ride down.  We found the smoothest part to go down and shouted "One, two, three..!"  and down the hill we went!  I don't think I have felt that much of a rush since going on the roller coasters at California Adventure for the first time.  It was amazing!  What I didn't realize (or plan on) was that on the way down I would get snow in my pants, up my nose, in my boots, down my jacket, in my hood, and everywhere else.  Note to self for next time: wear Under Armour so as to stay just a little but warmer.

This was my first time being able to go down a hill sledding!  It was amazing!!

Results= very happy and so ready to do it again!

Carolyn was with us on our first time down too!  She was the bravest because she sat in the front for the first time down.  We did hit one bump that caught her bum and made her soar for some days to come, but I know she had so much fun with us.

Carolyn and all the snow that got in our sled the first time we went down the big hill.

So we decided that once was not enough, and we went back up for another round of fun.  And another.  After that we decided it was a bit to dark where we were to go again (and frankly that hill was killer to climb up) so we decided to go to a littler hill across town by the hospital.  That was fun too, just in it's own way.

It was little enough for me to brave going down face first.  I would absolutely do it again (it was also a much smoother ride down since under us was grass and not a bunch of little plants under packed snow).

Here are some more pictures from the smaller hill.  We all took turns going down together.

It was a good time over all and we will probably be doing it again next year!

Who-da-ho?.... no... Idaho!

Yes, we made it to Idaho for school!  We had a good time on the drive up and could not have asked for any better weather.  Of course there were ups and downs to the whole trip, one of the biggest ones being that our 26 foot long moving truck's tire split.  Thankfully it was noticed when we stopped for gas just outside of Donner's Pass and so we did not have to deal with it on the side of the road.  What a blessing that was.  The second thing that didn't go as planned was that when we arrived up here (late at night) that our key was not where the rental company said it would be... yeah that made nobody happy.  Thankfully we were able to get in, I wont mention how, but we got in :).  The next day was spent unloading the moving truck... boy you never know how much stuff you actually have till you have to go through it all and pack it/unload it.  We found out the hard way that with just us two, we already have way too much stuff, but we love all our stuff.

Here is my sister Carolyn in the driver seat of our moving truck that had just been unloaded.

It took a few days of some serious box unpacking to get the necessities out, but we did it thanks to the wonderful help of my dad, mom and two sisters.  I don't think we could have gotten settled-in in such good timing had it not been for the help of family.  Thanks guys!

Our dogs watching us unload the truck... I was wishing they had hands at this point :)

We like our new house.  It has it's goods and bads, just like all things do, but overall I think we fit it pretty well.  The property is on a half acre, with a large backyard.  We love it because our dogs can go outside and play and have lots to do out there.  They love it probably more then we do.

Our backyard... and the first snow that we saw here.

I have to say that coming up here I was very nervous about how our dogs would react to the cold and the snow.  I figured Olivia would love it, and she does love it so much.  I didn't know quite how our two smaller dogs would like it though, turns out my gut instincts were right.  Belle loves the snow.  She loves to get her ball or Kong and play fetch in the snow.  She is definitely an independent girl and will do anything to go outside or stay there, even if she is cold and shaking because of being wet.  My gut instinct on Indie was spot on.  He hates the water... and the snow.  He will only go outside to do his business and then go right back on to the deck to go back inside.

Olivia's first time in snow.

Belle blending in ;)

Indie's first time in snow... yes in my arms because he 100% refused to get down.

Overall we are enjoying the new adventure that we find ourselves on.  We are happy to be experiencing new things that are helping us grow and learn.  Speaking of learning, school... well let's just get 'er done!!!

Hoping for a great 2012 with lots of new things and firsts!!