dried pears

I have finished my 30 lb box of pears. My mom helped me cut and dry these beauties for food storage. It's so satisfying to do the work: pick, cut, dry, and vacuum seal. It doesn't look like that many pears when it's all done...Yay for having dried pears for food storage! :)

Dehydration here I come

My mom surprised Nic and me with this beauty: I have always wanted a dehydrator. My mom mentioned it would be a great Christmas present, but lo and behold she gave us one. Thank you so much mom! Yay. I went up to my mom's house this morning to start drying my box of pears - already putting it to great use. Thank you again mom! We appreciate it a lot! :)

Fun in the Desert (aka AZ)

I'm home from my trip to the desert - well worth it. I flew in on Thursday and of course my aunt (Jayne) and 2 cousins (Natalie and Shauna) were waiting for me. Shauna and me headed over to Dyan's house (cousin) to see her new twin boys. She even let us feed them! They are yummy! We had a yummy salmon dinner thanks to Jayne. I have to take advantage of the seafood, because Nic is not as big of a fan as I am. hehe We then met up with Kellie and Lauren. I have known Lauren since Fall of 2005 and Kellie since...we lived together (I can't think of when that was haha). It was a little roomie reunion in honor of Shauna's farewell. We laughed the night away! Friday morning Shauna and I headed to do a session in the Mesa Temple. Beautiful and large. It was different for me to be in a bigger temple (compared to the Medford). It was a great experience to be there with Shauna.

Mesa Temple

Shauna and me after our session

We headed over to my grandparent's (aka g.rents) for lunch. They took us out to lunch at Peter Piper's Pizza. Yummy pizza and in great company. We met up with Kellie and Lauren and took a trip to the ginormous Scottsdale Fashion Square. So many store! Once again used to the not so big Medford Mall (kind of ghetto compared to the AZ malls). I think Shauna said that there are 7 or so malls within 15 minutes of her house. The closest one to me is over an hour away! haha

3 beautiful ladies: Lauren, Kellie and Natalie

A not so safe picture of me and Shauna (she's driving)

The 4 roomies at the fashion square

Hangin' out being...no words to describe my weirdness

Love "L"

Love this pic of Shauna and Kellie

We headed to BJ's for some dinner and yummy pazookie dessert.

Presh

I didn't post the pic of my food, but know that there was a massive amount of fries (there was no way I could finish them all). So good though.

desert cont...

Saturday started off with a brunch at Jacque's house (beautiful house and delicious food). We hung out with Lauren and Kellie - trip to Kohl's (my fav store) - light lunch at Paradise Bakery (the one time I got cold in AZ haha) - dinner at Seranos (their fav. Mexican restaurant).

Jayne and Paul

Lauren and Natalie

"Little" Robbie and Shauna. I still see him at about age 8...maybe.

The 3 of us - Kellie went out for her sister's birthday dinner. We missed her.

After dinner, we went to this amazing water park: Sun Splash from 7-11. It was a BLAST! So many fun waterslides. I'm pretty sure Shauna and I drove by it on the freeway at least a few times a day. I have been wanting to go to a water park all summer, and my wish came true. :) There were 5-6 slides that you had to go down on tubes; 4 regular ones; the dreaded Cauldron (aka Toilet Bowl); 2 steep ones; lazy river; wave pool; not so fun kiddy slides. The toilet bowl: a steep slide down and then it shoots you into this whirlpool thing and then down a hole into 9 ft. deep water. Shauna, Lauren and I were all being chickens about it - Natalie just rolled her eyes. haha We all went on it. Funny story: Lauren somehow ended up going down the hole (not the slide) head first. We don't really know it happened. haha It was a near death experience...ok not really. We had a good laugh about it though and it makes for a great story.

After Sun Splash: we were exhausted!

Sunday was wonderful. Shauna's farewell talk was A.MAZING. I cried through the whole thing. She is going to make a wonderful missionary and I still can't believe she's going. I'm so happy and excited for her. After our meetings, we had a big dinner with all of the family (sorry no pics). It was a very tasty, Hawaiian themed dinner. It was fun to see all of the family for one last time.

Shauna and me my last morning in AZ

Monday morning brought brunch at TC Eggingtons with the g.rents, mom, Jayne, Paul, Shauna, Nat, and me. It was very tasty. We then headed over to the g.rents to cool off in the pool. It was relaxing last day.

The 3 ladies at TC Eggingtons

At the airport, I got to see Sam and Nikki. It was a wonderful surprise! They had flown to AZ to drive down to San Diego with Nikki's family and we ended up being at the airport at the same time. I got to coke with them for an hour or so. Sadly, my mom wasn't able to join us because we ended up being on different flights. haha (long story about my flight confusion) It was great to see them, if only for an hour. All in all it was a great trip! Thank you to Jayne and Paul for letting me stay with them. Thank you to Shauna for making it a wonderful trip. Thank you to Kellie and Lauren for making me laugh - it was great to have a little roomie reunion. I think we want to try and do this again. A HUGE thank you to my mom and dad for providing me flights to AZ - it really meant a lot. A GINORMOUS thank you to my wonderful, brown eyed hubby. I got home from girls camp and was off again. I missed him a lot, but I'm grateful for him supporting me. Thanks for a wonderful trip everyone!

I have safely arrived back from the dessert (aka AZ). I will blog soon, with pics. Fun memories: I Gotta Feelin' - So Alli... - Sun Splash - eating - etc... Family time. Missed Nic. Glad to be home.

100 + degree weather

Can't wait to be going here... to see her (compliments to Grandma for the afghans)... That's right - the 13-17 I will be in AZ for Shauna's farewell. I can't wait to see her and all of my extended family that live in AZ. We are going to have so much fun! ( I even heard rumors about going to a water park Friday night) :) My mom flies in on Saturday - yay! Shauna and I are even doing a session in this beautiful temple... I will also get to see her (an old roomie = Kellie, KP) PS I love your hair this length, Kellie... and her (an old roomie and amazing friend = Lauren, Mack)... Can't wait! Unfortunately, I will be leaving Nic...again. I just left him for a week at Girl's Camp and now I'm leaving him for a few days for AZ. He will be missed. COUSINS UNITED!

Just some pictures from the past...

Love Story meets Viva La Vida. Please go watch this video. It's A.MAZING!

PS

Zeus died. I officially do not like Bettas. No more fish. Boo.

Xperience the Difference 09

This past week was girls camp. I was the YCL (Youth Camp Leader) Leader and I had a blast! It was an amazing week - I think I learned more then the girls did. It was such an amazing learning experience (no pun intended). There was certification day, the hike day, jamboree (games galore), and firesides. I had some amazing spiritual experiences with the YCLs and learned some great lessons.

So the hike...I decided to do the hike that was only for 4th years and YCLs (and of course leaders). The hike was to...Mt McLoughlin! What an amazing day it was for me! We started at 6 30 am and got to the summit at noon. 5.5 miles and 5.5 miles down. We left the summit at 1 and got to the bottom a little before 4. I had such a great time and to tell you the truth, going up was much easier than going down. Going down was hard on the tired legs, knees, feet (hence the swollen ankles below), and who knows what else. I still can't believe that I made it to the top! :) I don't mean to brag, but I truly am happy about it. I actually started crying when I made it to the top. 9500 ft - it was a spiritual experience. I absolutely loved every minute of it! All in all it was an amazing experience. I did miss Nic a lot. It was hard being away from him for 1 whole week - I'm kind of pathetic. He missed me too though. He came and picked me up, because my mom left on Wednesday because Dani had her baby. We all missed my mom at camp. It was sad not to have her there, but she was where she was supposed to be. I started laundry the minute I got home and took a shower. I do have a confession to make...I hadn't showered in 42 hours. After the hike on Thursday, I took a shower at 4 30 pm and then didn't take one until Saturday. haha Needless to say, I needed one - I literally had no time to take one. Nic and I watched a movie and relaxed for a little bit. We then headed over to Cherise's house for dinner and fun with Michelle, Craig and their families. It was great to see them all. :) After we got home, Nic gave me a yummy massage. :) How lucky am I?! It was a great week, but it was even greater to be home. That was my Xperience at girls camp - Be Thou an Example!

Rocky Point dinner

Last Saturday, my mom and dad took Nic and me out to dinner (my choice for bday dinner). I decided to try out the Rocky Point Restaurant. It's a quaint, homey...I can't even think of words to describe it. It sits on the edge of the Klamath Lake in Rocky Point. Delicious food!

This is the view out the window I was sitting next to...

My wonderful parents! :)

My crazy parents - you gotta love them!

Me and my wonderful husband! :)

At least I look normal in this picture...ok we both look wierd! Love that we can both be crazy! :) This was nearing the end of our evening. We had some yummy dinner and yummy dessert. Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful dinner (sorry I was late posting it).