tonsil fun

I got my tonsils out on Wednesday.

This was after they blew out two veins and I witnessed my blood squirting all down my arm and onto the floor. It really hurt my pride in my view of myself that I have good veins. But hey, they told me to come dehydrated, so I did!!

Russ and mom have been so great. This is my first day weaning myself off the narcotics. I actually have color in my face again. Wish me luck. Just know, my uncomfortable state is the reason why I've been blogging and catching up on everyone else's blogs. So no matter how uncomfortable I am, I guess let's appreciate this time we have together. =)

"diss"??

Something we love about Gracee is that she is very affectionate. She loves to give "disses".

Here she is, starting very coy

(i'm walking backwards during these shots, she's coming for me)

Pucker time!

She came and kissed the camera lense!

Her cousin Susie

Grandma

I love it when she grabs his face like this, he gets more kisses when he's shaved;)

with "Bubba"

Mammallama

This is my mom. She's been helping us out this summer and has been letting us help her out a little too. We know she is homesick for AZ, but we're so glad to have her visit us. It's nice of the AZ family to share her with us a little these last two summers.

I was inspired my a blog post one of my friends put up about her mom's visit. Most of this visit she has been pretty sad most of the days because she is grieving the recent loss of her husband. But recently she's gotten to visit my brother's family up north a ways, we've had several more get togethers with the local grandkids, and just had a short visit from my sister Steph and her family. She has seemed more like the old mom. Lighter, easier to laugh, and more driven and energetic. I know she is still going through the grieving process, but it sure is exciting to have days where she laughs so easily.

And she catches fun little moments like this on camera, she's good at that.

And like this.

And this.

This is us with my adorable nephew Jarom when he visited. We took him to the Joseph Smith movie. We are both very touched by that movie and have a goal to go see it with Russ before she goes back.

Confessions of a loser

Written in the front cover of my scripture journal is the heading: "The first things I'll ask when I get to heaven". The first thing on the list says I will ask where my cell phone went to that I lost back in 2007. When I lose things, Russ isn't surprised. In fact, I even lost the ipod he gave me for Christmas one year. I recently found it in a discreet pocket of one of our duffel bags--it was lost for about 3 years!!

I've also broken 2 phones, 2 cars and 2 cameras now. So we don't have a camera. I don't really deserve to have one--but we've been saving up to get one. My mom let us borrow her camera when we went to Vermont and New York to tour church history sites with the Jenny Phillip's choir group we are blessed enough to be a part of. Guess what? I lost her camera. I didn't even get the chance to take even ONE picture before I lost it!! It makes me sick. Anyway, needless to say, we replaced her camera and are once again...saving up.

Luckily, a bunch of people in our tour group took pictures so I'll be able to post them. They didn't lose or break their camera...they probably never have. It's okay, I still have other redeeming qualities.

My sister Steph and her family are in town and then I get my tonsils out the day after they leave...so if I don't post for a while, that is why.

what I've been doing while I haven't been blogging vol. 2

A CRUISE!!! For our (very) early 5th anniversary, we knew we wanted to go to Hawaii or on a cruise. We went on Carnival to the Mexican Riviera. The alcohol bilboard in the background is VERY representative of the types of activities on the cruise! There wasn't a lot to do in the evenings--other than drink--so we just relaxed.
Here is my 9am ice cream cone. Waffle cones are one of my favorite treats. Everybody kept laughing at me. I was so excited to finally find one that I didn't care what time it was. Okay so I know everybody needs a cruise. There is not one person that wouldn't benefit from a vacation, right? So I am not claiming we were anymore deserving than any other hard working person...but I must say WE REALLY REALLY NEEDED THIS! It was totally worth whatever sacrifices it took us to get there. I am especially referring to Russ. He is such a hard lil worker. He is working full time with a lot of responsibility and working on getting his MBA too. He also has a taxing church calling and helps with the yard and is a VERY attentive father. I love nothing more than to see him relaxed and acting all crazy (a side few see) with family or close friends. It just fills my heart. That was probably my most favorite thing about the cruise(that and not having to cook, clean, or meal plan). We could have not done any excursions and just relaxed and played in the water and I would've loved it.
We played in the waves all day this day...it was so much fun!!!

They made us towel animals every night...the elephant was my favorite!

I GOT SO SICK OF EATING!!!!!!!!!!! ECKH!


En route to Long Beach--that was where we ported from.
We went with our good friends, Jason and Mackenzie

See, doesn't he look happy? Here's to making memories, worth every minute (even though it was so hard to be away from Gracee) and every dime.

what I've been doing while I haven't been blogging vol. 3

GIRL'S CAMP!!!
One of my favorite callings so far, I am a Laurel Advisor. I love the YW. Our ward YW are really great about not having tons-o-drama and not being too cliquey=) It was really hard to leave Gracee after having been on the crusie for a week--but I felt really good about going and I am glad that I did.

I was able to get to know the other leaders a lot better
This is Maddie, she's a cutie and it was her birthday so I carried on my back for a mile of the hike!!! My hips were so bruised, but it was worth it.
some of my girls on the hike.
We got to go canoeing whenever we wanted because we were right by the lake! Nothing better than experiencing nature while getting a little workout!!
There was lots of lounging time this year...kind of nice.

While I wasn't blogging Vol. 1

I have sort of dropped off the face of the blogging earth. I am sorry, for anyone who cares=). There have been a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of other things going on. For instance, I went to AZ for Morin's funeral. While I was there I saw my brother, Slade's, play. I also saw his daughter Briana's play.This is me and Bri about 4 years ago.

Us now. She is a great lil actress! I'm excited to see more things she does. She has an agent now. I also got to do her hair for prom! That was so much fun to be there for that. She's like the little sister I never had, but always wanted.

Here is my Gracee girl playing at the park in AZ.
I am very very proud of this picture I took!