I think Sunday's are the Best!

Jackson and I just chillin'. I cannot believe what a loving child he is. Now he gives the best kisses and bear hugs and is talking! I gave him a haircut which he stood perfectly still for! I love to see him when they come down!

Introducing Miss Kaitlynn Rae!

She is Just so darn cute and small and cuddly and I want to pet her and love her and name her George!
the beautiful megs holding Kaitlyn and getting a little snuggle time in!

Its amazing to be able to hold this amazing little girl in my arms and to know that my friends created her and that she is the most loved little girl! It made me laugh that Tommy whips out his camera phone to show me the pictures that he has taken! Oh how quick it is to wrap a giant of a man around one little tiny finger! I think Katrina has already taught her a thing or two! I looked at Katrina and just had to laugh because looking at Kaitlyn made me think of all the good times with her mom! I am so excited to be able to watch her grow and learn and to be able to watch her parents bring her up to an amazing little human. I hope laughter is part of her everyday life!

why I love my life in san diego

I was getting Chased!
The fog Rolling In!

Family dinner every Sunday is one of my favorite times of the week. Its a time that my family gets together whether we like it or not and get together to eat and to be a family. In the summer we go to Shelter Island and on nights like tonight when its soooo hot here even on the coast it is a welcome reprieve! Tonight we literally watched the fog come rolling in! I can't believe how clear it was when we got there and then to look out and see the bank coming in! I love to sit there and talk to whoever is sitting closest to me and the fact that I can get all the love I want from my nephews and niece! Tonight Josh and I were supposed to get together and build a portable tap floor so that he can come over and teach me every Monday! So we pulled the wood flooring for the top of the floor out and layed it out to see how big we wanted it. James came over and started helping us and made an awesome suggestion that makes us REALLY excited! So Josh loads it into my car and when I get home i pulled it out to save gas... so in the middle of pulling out this stack of wood planks i decide that I need to flip it over to stand it up against the wall... You know those moments in life when you right in the middle of an action you think to yourself... Self this is not a good decision... That was this moment! And so with those said boards in the middle of the swing up they came crashing down... again one of those moments you think... Self this is going to hurt really really bad!...and the smallest amount of time there is possible that known hurt becomes an actuality. Yep the corner of one of those darn boards even made a nice divot into my toe that lasted for at least 5 minutes! My toes are even now still throbbing! It literally sucked the wind out of me and when my roomie Tzenni-bah came out I was bent over with my head on the side of my car cuz i still couldn't walk. As soon as she said whats wrong, that's when tears came into my eyes. Why is it that a little compassion from someone that loves you always makes you cry?!!!

the trash compactor!

This week I have learned that I still have a temper and that the more I dwell on something the more worked up i get and then caaaahhhpppooooowwwwweeee... I explode... Not a good thing and something I still need to work on... I feel tremendous guilt for making someone cry in my own moment of weakness, i have try to work on this since my college days when my old roomate Dorothy made me sooooo mad and tried to tell me how horrid I was... when I spelled it all out for her and what I thought to walk out and have Sash say to me "I hope to never make you mad!" I really have tried to keep that simmered down... I truly never want to hurt people and it made me cry that I made someone else cry! I just feel like I get pushed and pushed and then the littlest thing sets me off... I call myself a human trash compactor! I let all the crap and garbage of life be piled on and then one little tiny piece gets thrown on and whammooo i explode. I will really try to be nice!

Yeah to My Friend being Home!

Annie's Back and I am excited... I just want her daughter to not freak out when she looks at me! Darn babies and the whole attachment to their moms! I'm glad that she will be living 2 blocks from me and I won't have to drive anywhere to get to them! I have my shaking our fists friend back!

Whata Country!

Last night I was watching the news about Tim Russert, the host of Meet the Press, that passed away at work yesterday. I have to admit that I watched his show only a couple of times but I was always blown away by his knowledge. I realized last night that he truly loved this country. His love for it was instilled in him from an early age. I have to say that I too love this country. I laugh because I always tear up when I hear drums beating and see the American Flag! I love the military and all that they do for me and my freedom. I can say that because I had a Grandpa that served in the Navy and was in war. I love to hear about his stories and to sit and learn about his past. He truly is one of my personal heros! I will always remember when Kimmie came down to visit and we sat and listened to his stories for hours. I have never been so entertained and entranced as I was that afternoon. I loved to hear about how him and my grandma met, married, traveled across the country so that he wouldn't be late from his leave! I love to hear that he decided to actually see the war and not just teach in chicago so that he could actually have real life experiences and not just teach about them. I think its interesting that when he made that decision his superiors told him not to go and that he had this cushy job but he couldn't stand having his students look him in the eye and ask if he had ever seen any action and he hadn't. His decision meant that my grandma and uncle had to move back to tooele, ut. with my great grandma! I can't imagine the strength that it took for the both of them! Anyways, my thoughts are that this country are built on the backs of men like my grandpa! I just had to say that I am proud to be American and that I have the ability to be the best I want to be.

The 212!

Rachels daughter Nicole found my glasses in my purse... She may look just like her dad but she is her mom through and through! For Nicole, I hope that when she is older she will be able to bring people laughter and pure happiness and that she will be able to see the world in a way that will always bring her and her friends laughter. I hope for Nicole that she will be able to find friends that will forever change her life and that she will be better for having met them! I hope that she will lift others up like her mom did for me!

My dearest friend Katrina! How I love her... She is oh you know 9 months pregnant and ready to go any day but when I look at Katrina I just see the most amazing woman that I have come to know! She and I have had some amazingly fun times together and for her daughter I would wish that she will be as caring and compassionate as her mom. I don't know how Katrina has put up with me and all my craziness and not killed me but I know that the 2 of us will always be able to look back and laugh about things like the morris bodyslam, lifting each other up through the daves (devils) and No Katrina I still will not go over and Bomb Dave. You could ask me a million times but I will never do it! We laughed together and served together and fought over who was in charge in the kitchen... I am in charge and really feisty on Mondays! She knows that I am the sassiest when my hair is short and that I am really grouchy when i get woken up either with people being loud or paper being ripped early on a Saturday morning! But truly one woman that I know that I will always be able to lean on when all my strength is gone, she will be the first one there to pick me up!

Rachel! I love love love Rachel, she brought me sooooooo much laughter and showed me that the world around is truly fun and that there are always adventures around any corner. It could be the amazing operas sung off of a balcony with a ukulele, or playing hide and go seek in an apartment that was crammed full in every corner... she could always outsmart us and we would have a hard time finding her every time, she taught me about the gospel and that roommate prayer at 6 in the morning with us in bed and her on the floor was important! She taught me what it is to truly be excited about life!

Nothing in this world is better than driving down the road with the sunroof and windows all rolled down and hearing Megan Scream I'M IN CALIFORNIA! When Megs moved in she was this crazy girl that brought us all laughter. Megs truly thinks of others and makes you know that you are loved and very important. I know that Megs taught me more about the Gospel and the pure love hate relationship that a person can go through! I laugh because with megs if I told her do this... she wouldn't... if I told her don't do this... she went running with open arms. I will always remember her moving in and telling us Don't talk about the church I don't want it in my life... Yeah, it was awesome and amazing to see her slowly, then not so slowly come back. I am always impressed with my beautiful friend for her vivacious personality and her love that she shows everyone... even when she is not feeling it!

These are my Girls!!! You know when you meet friends its either for a season, a reason, or its a friendship that last time. These are my friends that I know will be in my life for time! Sitting at dinner tonight because rachlet is back in the states after living in Japan for the past 4 years. (I cannot believe its been that long!) I was looking at these friends that I was at their weddings and I have seen them pregnant and now I get to see them as moms! You know I have to say that now matter what we look like I think I will always remember them as the person that they were when we lived together. I had some really amazing times with them and it really does make me glad to know that no matter how much I suck as a friend at keeping in contact when we get together that friendship is there and that we will always laugh together and that the boys can always sit and talk and watch sports but that us girls can sit at the table just like we always did at the 212 and gab for hours... now though there are these little kids that the parents have to chase!

Lessons I needed to learn!

I had to teach Young Women's yesterday and all week I was dreading actually having to teach this lesson. Here's my beef with it... I feel like these girls are smart and that the book is talking down to these girls with amazing intelligence. I also hated the topic because it was about the duties and rules of missionaries. If I would have been taught that when I was in Young Women's you can guarantee that I would have thought Hells to the bells NO WAY am I going! As it was I didn't go for many reasons but this lesson was really painful. So I pulled out my trusty scriptures and started reading. I came to understand that those rules are pretty much the same for the people in the Book Of Mormon as they are today... I really like the rule that Missionaries are only supposed to stay for an hour and that they are supposed to spiritually edify the people that they meeting with. I love that in the scriptures you can see that often, but also because I am Mormon food and religion go hand in hand! Anyways, it was nice to see that we did have an actual discussion and that the girls even stayed after and stood in a circle and talked after it was over... something I have not seen them do! I also came to understand that rules give me a freedom and that I can actually live with them! I don't know if I would have gone on a mission if they would have driven me crazy and I would have had to put a toe outta line just to see what would happen...it's in my nature!

I Can!

So today I was talking with my dear friend Karen who happens to be one of my lifes greatest cheerleaders. I really don't know what I would do without her kind and encouraging words but the basic drift of a long conversation was that we need to be positive in our thoughts to ourselves. She is reading a book that is helping her to see a positive way of thinking and for me I came to my own conclusion on a long trip to Elko Nevada when my grandmother passed. I had 24 hours in the van with the family to think about who I am and who I have become and I realize that the 2 people didn't quite meet up. I realized that i had a lot to change and it really all started in my head. I no longer am going to berate myself for all my many shortcomings instead I have changed my mantra to I AM WORTH IT! So no more selling myself short and no more looking down! I realized that the reason for this is that I need to pass on to my posterity, be it my nephews, my neice or my own kids some day down the road, that they can do anything and be anything that they want. The truth of the matter is that I can be and do anything I want! I read an amazing quote today and I just want to post it here so that I can remember it always! We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better,“ J.K. Rowlings

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Try New Things!

So here goes my first blog! I was talking to one of my clients today and I told her that I am taking tap from my brother. She was amazed and told me that she wanted to take something like that. I was thinking about me and who I am... I have to say I hate "traditional" education. You know the kind that you have to sit and listen to someone drone on and on and then you are tested on what that person thinks is important. You just have to regurgitate what they said in the hours that you sat and listened (or in my case, doodled and made really pretty letters or flowers on what should be my notes!) Anyways, I have to say that in my adult years I can honestly say that I strive to constantly learn new things that will help me be more fascinating to myself! My newest love is Tap! I have to say that it is the hardest thing to know how to transfer feet and to keep the rhythm and to not fall flat on my face and still make that flap, slap, shuffle or hop with the rest of the class! Josh is always saying to the class to make sure that you keep your arms natural and to not get the dreaded "tap Claw" (this is where you are concentrating so hard on your feet that all of a sudden your hands contort into claws) Last week I was finally getting the moves but could literally feel my hands contort into the claws and then rub against one another, Josh caught me and pointed it out to the class... Guess what without the crutch of the claw I couldn't get my dang feet to do what I needed! So aggravating! My point to whoever reads this is to let you know that i love to learn and hope that you will always want to learn yourselves! If you want to comment on what you want to learn I would love to hear... I Just might steal it though and try it myself! I'm Off to TAP!!!!