Just things on my mind.

HI HI HI! I have missed blogging!! I haven't because things are pretty intense at work right now. I want to make sure I am doing the things that I should be doing, (and I don't have a computer at home.) Lots of changes. Hopefully for the better!! They are changing our performance evaluation process but they haven't said exactly what we will be graded on, just what we won't. So we are all in limbo and things are completely different than they were when I was hired 4.5 years ago.

The past few weeks have been good. I have done some camping, crafting, cleaning, practicing, laughing, enjoying, and running.

I was pondering about my Grandma haws the other day and her life and how amazing she was. Everytime I went to visit her she was cleaning, baking for someone in the ward, canning, pulling weeds, reading her scriptures, quilting, knitting. She was always in the service and it hit me that the things she actually enjoyed doing were things that she should be doing. Things that helped her progress and help others. Thats where I need to get with my life. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing these sort of things but I also enjoy watching movies for hours on a saturday. I enjoy reading books that have no meaning other than to entertain me. It's these types of activites that I choose to do most often and I need to work harder at aligning myself with the path that my grandmother chose. As I write this I reflect on my mother as well and she is the same way! Always serving, always reading and studying and working and progressing. Sure she watches tv in the morning but its a morning scripture study through BYU. It's information on current political issues. I have been epicly blessed in my life to be surrounded by amazing women to teach me the way that I should be.

This says it just about right.

So we live out in our old van
Travel all across this land
Me and you
We'll end up hand in hand
Somewhere down on the sand
Just me and you
Just as free
Free as we'll ever be
Just as free
Free as we'll ever be
Drive until the city lights
Dissolve into a country sky
Just me and you
Lay underneath the harvest moon
Do all the things that lovers do
Just me and you
Just as free
Free as we'll ever be
Just as free
Free as we'll ever beand ever be
No we don't have a lot of money
No we don't have a lot of money
No we don't have a lot of money
All we need is love
We're free as we'll ever be
Just as free
Free as we'll ever be
So we live in our old van
Travel all across this land
Me and you

East Mesa Institute

Yep. I have started it up again. It's been a journey. Institute is interesting. The goal is to never miss a week*. Ever. In my adult life I have NEVER completed an entire institute class. sad right? Not even when attending Eastern Arizona. It was too easy to sleep in, nap, lay around, play. sigh. so many fun things to do in those days.
So this is it. My first one. I will complete it.


* I will however have to miss if I ever go watch one of little brothers football games. They are only on Thursday night and seeing him sack a few is very important to me as well. :)

El Rey Cafe

A few weeks ago we crawled into a magical white box on wheels and went to globe for dinner. Why you ask? Because we can. And because it was half way for us and our buddy Chuck. I have been wanting to check out a mexican place there for a while so this was the perfect opportunity. El Rey Cafe. I have heard it is amazing. and it is, if you like butter and cheese. Lakes of butter and mountains of cheese. it rains butter and cheese in this place. never in my wildest dreams, no make that nightmares have I thought of making mexican more fattening than it already is!! WOW. ANYWAY......

Little miss hottie midget killian, Mern, Clinton

The sunset. Isn't arizona amazing? All the colors and palm trees? I love it. My favorite sunsets are in Arizona and Mexico.

Did you know there is NOTHING to do in Globe? Well take this as your warning.....

August

Where were you last year at this time? August. One year ago. If you think back on it, I bet you will remember the activities you were doing and think, WOWWW that doesn’t seem like that long ago. I can’t believe it has been a year already. That’s what happened to me today. I was reading back on my blog for August 2009. That was fun to do and makes me grateful that I keep this blog. It’s not everything I want it to be, but its more than nothing. So looking back to last year and looking forward to next year I wonder where I will be. What I will accomplish in the next year. What will be my success and failures. I have some goals, and a few different strategies. With a little luck, and a whole lot of prayers, and just a spoonful of sugar, all will be well. :)

The big surprise

Wellll.... I have decided to do it....

I once played the violin.

I played it for 9 years.

I haven't picked it up in 6.

If I never pick it up again I will have thrown away 9 years of practice.

So I have been looking into private lessons, community orchestras, etc.

In church, when singing hymns, I practice getting familiar with what finger is put on what string for that note.

I thought I had forgotten, but I haven't.

I am eager to work on my talents again.

Freedom

I am ready for it.

I love the feeling of freedom, and i love the feeling of being in control. This is a problem in the mornings when I drive in to work with the windows down. The curly hairs on my head are free, and I am not in control of them.

Camping this weekend. I bought a little grill to go over the fire. Then i bought raspberry pepperjack chicken hotdogs. They sound epic. then Bacon. pancakes. eggs. cobbler. Does anyone else love camping just for the food?? mmmm

I also bought a frisbee. and glowsticks but not the hammock that I wanted. We leave at 4 and 4 can't come fast enough.

I love my Grandpa

I have the coolest grandpa in the entire world. Just the name Earl Jensen sounds like greatness!

Lake Lake Lake

Just for the record. Saguaro lake is pretty awful right now. Since tempe dam is broken they aren't letting any water out. The water levels are getting so high that it has washed all the trash from the land into the water. There isn't that much beach available.

Other than that its great! We had a fun time. Packed a picnic and spent a few hours out here after work.

Naomi slade, Clinton, Christ, RJ, Tom
Clinton and Christi
If she bails on me and gets with this boy she will be in so much trouble. I am sick of making new friends. sick.of.it.
Jakeb may marry my jetski. He likes it that much.

The sunset was amazing. The water was just as pink as the sky.

Look at those fluffy clouds! Just amazing.

Pizza and Margarita's

I used to plan parties all the time and I don't do it enough anymore!! Here was my attempt at a party. :)

I got these super cool glasses in Mexico and it's fun to be able to use them. As you see here Clinton knows how to drink from it, and Christi doesn't. I always knew he had a drinking problem.

Julie, Tyler, Elena

Jenalee and Mern.

Sometimes my camera does the whole blurring thing and I don't understand why! grrrr

The girls

What is happening here? It must have been the drinks.

We are SUCH rockstarz. I love my girls!

OKAY JUST FOR THE RECORD THEY WERE VIRGIN DRINKS.

All good things must come to an end.

Saturday morning started out with the 24th of July parade in Salt lake. It was the longest parade of my life. Mom promised I would see the prophet, so I went. Does that look like the prophet? nope. It wasn't. It was elder Uchtdorf.I was a little dissapointed but 3 popsicles later I was feeling better. IT.WAS.SO.HOT.

All the floats were REALLY cool and detailed. The one with tarzan was pretty hot. and i meant tarzan was really hot. I want to keep him under my bed.

The whole Haws clan was there. Some even spent the night out on the lawn to ensure that we had a place to sit. Thank you thank you! They have dedication that I did not.
Michael Wiltbank came to visit! What fun! It's been a while since I have seen him. We used to play and help each other keep sanity when I was living in Provo.

We had RED for the family color. It's not just coincidence.


We snuck away from the family reunion festivites for half the day to go to LAGOON. You all remember how much I love rollercoaster rides don't you? sigh. This samari ride was amazing. It will make you lose your sushi for sure.

Lindsey's hair always looked amazing after riding wicked. haha it was great.

After LAGOON we met up with the rest of the family and Doug and Stashia's pool house to have a dinner and Uncle Jeff's Beading. Then family meeting and visiting. It's always so fun to catch up with everyone.

This is my mom and my travel companion for 2 weeks. Thanks mom you were a great co-pilot! Thanks for bringing your map! Don't you all love our matching Miley Cyrus bags? Be jealous!! :)

After a fun 2 weeks it was the least I could do to show mom how to add more oil into her thirsty lil car. GULP GULP GULP

And I thought I would leave everyone with this epicly epic epicness. HAHAHA. Isn't she great??? I love my mom! We always have "good times"

Mom headed back to Idaho and Lindsey, Danielle, and Nana Goat headed back to Mesa. We drove all night and were all glad for a shower and a nap.

PARK CITY

On the right was the alpine slide. the left was the roller coaster and the Zipline. Favorite would have to be the zipline. I just love the feeling of flying free.

Mern and Keldon for the rollercoaster. These carts were SO FAST. The man said, There will be a point when your brain tells you you should break and slow down. What I want you to do is ignore it. Just push it out of your mind and press down fast to go faster. It's fun, and you won't die.

Good ol Rhett sporting my Miley Cyrus bag, Annie's bow and great glasses.

Shamane, Cass, Rhett, Lindsey, Keldon, Mern, Danielle, Katie(?)

Cass, Nana Goat, Katie, Mern

To ride the rides you had to ride the ski lift up. It was so calming but took longer than we wanted.

These are the little carriers for the alpine slide. Unfortunatly these CAN and WILL fly off the track. 2 of these slides are so dangerous that after this season they will be taking them out. It's way fun though!

Mern and Jensen.

Brett, Mitch, Uncle Jeff

The view

On my way up the rollercoaster.

Mom and I on the coasterLets see, in this picture you can see Lindsey,Adam, Dorie, Greta, Kayden, DeAnn, Marjann, Mona, and mom

The night before we played mom, lindsey and I stayed in the Ski lodge. My cousin Tara works there and got us a room. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. THAT WAS SO SWEET.

There was a pool table in our room!! :)

Phyllis, Adel, Grandma and Grandpa came to check out the room. It was so nice! There was a hot tub on the balcony. When you turned on the water for the tub the water came FROM THE CEILING. The TV came out of a secret spot on the nightstand. It was great.

Some of Mom's familys friends. They have been friends for many years so they met up for lunch in Salt lake before we headed to Park City.

This is for you VALDORIN

A day at LAGOON.

I love this place. Every year we would go to MEP for our family vacation. Most years we would drive by LAGOON and beg and beg and beg to go. It only happened once. But who can blame 2 parents with 7 kids. The odds of 1 of us getting lost was about 100%. I only say that because it's happened to us more than once. twice that I can remember. ANYWAY. Now that I was an Adult. Had some free time. and always make good choices, I chose to go to LAGOON. We had some of the meppers with us and had a blast. It wasn't too hot. there is a water park inside. Many fun rides. During the week the lines aren't that long. it was an epic day.


Here are some of us that went. Abby, mason, LuJean, Conrad, friend, Mom, Me, Val, friend. Tyson and his family showed up a bit later.

The cliff hanger gets you SUPER wet. There is something about being hung upside down and shot with a fountain of water.

These are the faces of 3 people scared for their LIVES....

haha. Val, Riley, and I did the SKYCOASTER. Basically they take you 60 feet in the air and drop you head first towards the ground. :)

We wore these super fun suits.

I think this is where she is telling us to look up and not look down so she could adjust our foot thing

up and away we go.

See that little dot all the way up at the top? Yeah, thats us!!! HOLY COW

The feel of falling was unlike anything i can describe. I really felt for a second that I might die!! that the cord wouldn't catch us and we would become one with the pavement.
But we didn't and we had a great time. I will do that again any time any where.

In the middle of the day we spent some time at the water park inside. They have a lazy river and shade and plenty of slides to play on.

Annie and Jensen showing some love. So cute.