Happy 2nd Anniversary To Us!

Ok I know it doesn't seem long to many people, but to me two years is well two years. So much has happened and well this third year even more is in store! I can not wait!
Well for our anniversary, we didn't do anything fantasy, we took a drive that lead us Jerome and over to Camp Verde where we had a picnic at Montezuma's Well, and then over to Fort Verde. We then finished the night of with dinner and a night home together.
THe first group of pictures is from the Mingus Mountains and the well.
This is of all the puppies at my mom's house! They are really moving around now and one opened her eyes today! The puppy in the bottom left is probably going to be ours. CJ has fell in love with her. The other one in the bottom, well that is how we found her sleeping today! In the top right is the long white puppy that only has three spots! The top left well is all the puppies together.

Christmas 2009

So December has been a very busy month both at home and at work. I always realize around this season that college does not prepare you for school parties. But I have been doing pretty good so far. We had Christmas plays, and Christmas activities, and well a lot of good spirit and cheer.
So I have posted a montage of pictures. This is the first time I have used this new program I found.

This first one is of CJ. He was such a sport, I love him dearly for doing this. The First grade and Kindergarten teachers asked if he would dress up as Santa. Everyone loved it, but he needed to eat more cookies, he is a very skinny Santa!This was one of the activities we did in second grade is make Gingerbread Houses (aka Graham Cracker Houses). First you rinse out 32 stinky milk jugs and then you tape them closed and tape two of them together. Then the kids use frosting to "glue" on Graham Crackers to make the house. Then you let them go to town on decorating their houses. Some kids did a great job, others well they are very imaginative and creative to say the least. Thanks mom for coming in and helping!
Well while all of this was taking place at school there was a miracle of life at my mom's house. She breeded their two muts and well Sadie gave birth to 13 beautiful puppies. They are so precious. There is already claim to four of them. We claimed the first born, it was a girl and CJ fell in love with her. She was a dark brown coat with white tipped toes and a white tipped tail, and one white stripe down her belly. She is so noisy and whines and tries to bark all the time! Can't wait to bring her home!
After school got out for the holiday break we did a lot of family visits. On Sunday before Christmas we went down to Phoenix to visit my mom's family and CJ met my oldest aunt. We had dinner with them and then cam home (no pictures).
Then on Monday we had all of CJ's family and dogs (they out number us now) over for Christmas.
It was a lot of fun, we decided to pick a name and get gifts for that person, but some of us slipped in others. Mom got a new camera, Meghan and I got new Kithen aides, CJ got a new rifle (Thanks Colton). It was a lot of fun and it was nice to get everyone together.
Then Christmas morning we went over to my parents house for presents. It seems like everyone got what they needed. My mom got new pots and a rice cooker. Dad got the rifle he had been on hold for since Thanksgiving. Jeremiah got a practice bow and arrows. Summer got cute things to put in her room and clothes. I got a little vacuum for my classroom and CJ got a nice hard case for his guns.

This next set is just pictures of presents that CJ and I got. He bought me a Cricut (Karisa you need to come help me play), he also got me a bead case and crazy scissors! CJ got a new drill and his WWII Riffle and a 9mm riffle from his brother-in-law. So to say the least we made out pretty good and had an amazing Christmas season.Despite all the presents and holiday hustle and bustle, I tried very hard to to keep in mind the true Christmas meaning. CJ and I still rea our scriptures each night and pray each day for the love of our Savior and the blessing he has given to us. We are grateful for the knowledge of his atonement and what Christ sacrificed for us when he was born. Thank you Jesus Christ!

I love this time of the YEAR!

Prescott is known as the Christmas Town of Arizona. I know exactly why! This past weekend Hubby and I and my Best Friend went Downtown Prescott to enjoy the beautiful Courthouse Lighting. There are choirs from local schools who sing Christmas Carols while someone reads a shortened version of the saviors birth story, then towards the end the shut the lights off and turn on all the beautiful Christmas lights! It is so Fun!

FHE activity number one: Bundle everyone up and walk around the Courthouse to see all the beautiful lights. (free to walk around)








After being freezing cold we decided to go to Prescott Resort to see the Largest Ginger Bread house village. Well they had some amazing houses. People put a lot of time and effort in their craft. Details. Details. Details.

FHE activity number two: Go walk the Gingerbread House Village (free admission)This last house is really funny and reminds me of past ans present nick-names. This is a castle built out of Big Red gum. Well a friend of mine from high school his dad used to call me Big Red. My dad still calls me Red.

FHE activity number three: Go drive through the Valley of Lights in Prescott Valley (free to get in, but please donate at the end to keep it a tradition).
We are hoping to do this one sometime soon!

First and probably only storm that will bring snow...

Good Ole Prescott Valley! I know the weather here like the back of my hand. I know if it is just going to rain or if it is going to circle us. I know if there is going to be snow and I usually can tell how much. Why? I am not some weather woman, but you live some where long enough and you just know. Some people try to stay optimistic, but I just know.

My mom has come up with the term Yavapai Swirl, this term is used when the weather man says we have a 40% or lower chance to get rain. You might feel some sprinkles and get all giddy because you THINK it is going to rain, but give it about 15 minutes and it will either move past or rain on the other side of what ever mountain range you are close to. This is do to Yavapai being a black hole for horrible weather.

So this weekend it did cool off quite a bit and did rain all day Monday. Well then the wind picked up and I figured that it would freeze and leave a little bit of snow. I WAS RIGHT! It froze. I hated driving to work and I hated thinking about the bus drivers and the weight they were towing around on the ICE. HUSD Super. get your head on! Just because your leaving does not mean you can leave us with a huge disaster on our hands!

Well out of all the crappy weather we get this one came with some good pictures and very cold weather!

New Adventure part 1/2

So lately there has been many changes and I am pretty sure you are all only getting pieces of it, well this is the first half of a whole new adventure!

About a month ago CJ and I disgussed his career choice and he found that Nursing is not what he is destined for. My being a planner was not exactly what I needed to hear, but I knew that Heavenly Father had a bigger plan. So CJ and I took a week to fast and pray together and we came up with possibilities. Before he went on his mission he wanted to be a civil Engineer, maybe in the Navy; so he went to the recruiters office and took a pre- ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). The recruiter gave CJ a pamphlet on Nuclear Engineer, he was thrilled with this option and realized this was his plan.

So the next week CJ went in and quit the Nursing Program and signed up to go down to Phoenix to take the ASVAB. He did really well, tested in the top 97% and pre-qualified for Navy Nuclear Program. The next obstacle was getting a waiver signed about his high school grades (be careful they come back to haunt you). The recruiter said this takes about 24-48 hours, but just our luck the guy who had to sign it went on vacation. So three weeks later it was finally approved. So Tuesday November 17th, 2009 CJ signed a contract and oathed in ti be a United States Navy Nuclear Engineer.

So the question that comes to everyone, when will we leave? The plan thus far...
CJ will leave in September for Basic, two months later I will join him in South Carolina for a 15-18 month training. Now this could all change, CJ put in for Early Deployment, so this means he is on a waiting list for Boot Camp. I am not sure of how many are on the list before him.

Why part 1/2, well from now until he leaves we just wait...

Conference Weekend

Over conference weekend we went up to Utah. We left Friday morning EARLY, very Early! We went up through Page and Kanab. From there we went over to Zion Canyon. It was so beautiful! I remember driving through when I was a kid, but it was nice to go through again. The only thing was that my lovely husband had a lead foot and was not going slow enough to get very many pictures. So here is what I have.

These two pictures are from inside a mile long tunnel. They were just quick shots.
The third is from below the tunnel looking up at the mountain that the tunnel was in.

Just outside the park was a little town, with a elk and bison farm. There was also a very cool tree that CJ and I climb for a couple pictures. I wouldn't have but CJ told me I couldn't climb it so I had to prove him wrong.

So the entire reason we went to Utah was to go to CJ's mission reunion, sorry no picture from that because we were an hour late because of BYU and Utah U football game. But in our two hour traffic jam we saw the moon come up over the mountains. It was huge!!

Then on Saturday we went to Conference, this is sitting at the trax station.

So Saturday night while CJ was at priesthood session the girls went shopping and well this is what we came up with and it was quite hilliorus!

On our way hone it was crazy windy and there was dust flying every where! It was a beautiful drive home, I don't think I will ever go through Las Vegas again!

Forget the roses! We painted the bathroom red!!

So one morning I was laying in bed and I rolled over to CJ and said, "HMMM I think I want to paint the bathroom." He said "Ok we will price paint and have a plan." We went to Home Depot and while there I choice the color and everything, and I guess I will just let the pictures talk!










I loved making my bathroom mine, next the outside of the house so it is not pink anymore. Probably Fall break!