4th of July part 2

okay so where did I leave off??? singing in the church choir. thats right. then 2 more hours of church. amazing testimonies on how thankful everyone is to be free. Max refusing to go to nursery,max needing to go potty, max begging to go to nursery. home again home again jiggity jig.

I got the front yard decorated all cute with red white and blue and we had a wonderful picnic! shishkabobs, grilled veggies, pasta salad. warm apples with sweet greek cinnamon yogurt dip. We had lots of family stop in! Aunty Carla, Meisha, Amber, , Dwayne and Royann.

Keara Greer came over to visit and ended up staying all night!
Buddy and Sara packed up and headed back to Mesa.
That night we all had SO MUCH FUN playing games and hanging out. Us kids decided to sleep out on the lawn under the stars. We stayed up all night laughing, wrestling, doing the macarana, scaring off a bobcat, tickle fights, Singing BLUE by Eiffel 65 and Barbie girl by Aqua (what the random! haha), and trying to learn how to shake booty like a black girl. I failed at that one.
Poor mom and dad heard everything through their window and didn't get much sleep. Thanks for not storming downstairs and shushing us for we were creating fantastic memories. at 5 we decided we should get some sleep. too bad the sun comes up at 8!! grrrr so it was up at 8 and time to clean the house, pack up our stuff and hit the road back to Mesa.

And that was the 4th! It was a goodie. I wish I had a camera so I could add pictures because there was plenty of family there to photograph.

Reportings on the 4th

What a great weekend! It is always so nice to get out of town and head up to the mountains. My home country. Where my heart lies. My heart is so happy as I travel up there and drive through town and round the corner onto school bus. This time I was headed up to celebrate our countries freedom and participate in a family reunion. As soon as I arrived into town I headed to the bookstore to visit Dallin. It's also tradition that I stop in Show Low and pick up a lil Ceasers pizza for him. (he isn't spoiled at all.) I rush home to change out of my mesa clothes that consist of thin material and shorts. I throw on my sneakers, jeans and longsleeves and head up to Haws park for a cookout. I could just taste the biscuits and gravy and hamburger patty. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW THAT TRADITION STARTED? Was someone all out of buns so decided to just have the patty????? I am not complaining, because I love it, I am just curious. It was fun to see everyone. Even if we didn't get to talk and catch up it was just nice to see all the faces and all the lil families growing. I hadn't seen some of the bloomfields in quite sometime!!
After dinner I had scheduled a hair cut so ran home to shower and then off to Natalie Allreds house! It was SOOOOO good to talk to her! I have missed her ever since she left the evil land of UoP and moved to God's country. We had a great time walking down main street, swinging at the middle school and talking about recent happenings in our lives! Good things are in store for us, RIGHT? :)

Saturday morning everyone woke up early and went to Haws park again for somebreakfast. Everyone but me that is. I slept in. yesssssss. Then I went to safeway. bought a jimmy dean breakfast bowl, some goat cheese, grapes and crackers. I was set for a great weekend.
The parade started at 11, so naturally we had to get there early to save our spot in front of the book store. I don't know if this is normal for other places of the world but people start setting up their chairs the DAY BEFORE. I always laugh and wish I had the guts to move their chairs here and his chairs over there and those ones to the other side of the street. How amazing would that be? I know there are some crazy kids in Eagar so WHY hasn't this been done yet??? If anyone ever decides to do it PLEASE invite me along. The parade was amazing, as always. I love standing to watch the flags go past. It lasted a good hour. Buddy was having his 10 year reunion so he was on a float. He threw TONS of candy to all the kids in front of us. It was raining sugar and the kids started going crazy.
After the parade its tradition to pile into the car and head to Aunt kathy's house for chili and homemade break. OMG it's delicious. I think this is where I started liking chili beans. It seems everyone in town is invited and there is always enough bread and chili. Each year there are new faces. The wind was pretty intense and kept trying to blow the canopy over. Uncle Willis and Aunt Kathy would just stand there and try to hold the tarp down. I think the whole canopy and us were about to be translated like the city of Enoch! I guess there is someone in my family that isn't perfect because we didn't quite make it off the ground. Whoever it is, you aren't invited next year.... jk jk. but seriously.....

Here is Chloe dancing out of the sunroof.

Max crashed out!
Dallin and I on our way to somewhere.

(originally I posted this saying this was Preston and I! haha oops. he was not there. Don't worry, he is still in Alabama enjoying the mission. :))

After lunch we all headed home for naps. Some of the reunion peeps, the Bloomfields and the Millers headed up to Alpine for go-carts, fishing, and lunch.

After naps and before the fireworks Dallin took me on a 4-wheeler ride. I thought it was going to be great.... okay well it was great but he took me DOWN THE JUMPS. Okay no big deal right? no big deal for a person who doesn't have a scar on their toosh from the last time a boy decided to take her down the jumps and then she found herself STUCK TO A TREE. This was the first time I had done this sort of thing since then and I will admit I was screaming bloody murder. Dallin lost his hearing I am sure.

FIREWORKS in Round Valley are amazing. They get better and better every year. This year the Brown family invited us to watch them with them. Mr. Brown is one of the hotshots so we got VIP parking with the hotshots families. It was amazing and Tyrells mom made homemade root beer and popcorn. yummmmm. It's a mess to get out of the fireworks and usually takes a good 20 minutes, but it's worth it! You can never tell when the finale is because it's so good the entire time!

I was surprised at Max because he was terrified! He kept asking if we could leave and was crying and said he didn't like it and that he was scared. poor little guy is so sensitive.
It was nice to chat with mom and dad after the fireworks. Buddy and Sara went to the dance and Dallin went to play with his friends. Mom, Dad, and I got to chat for a bit.

Sunday was church. I sang in the church choir. I swore every week up until the day I moved out of my parents house that I would NEVER, EVER sing in a church choir again. I caved. I will have to tell this story later....

There is so much more to report but this is getting quite lengthy! What do you expect for the greatest holiday of the year in the best town of the country??? DEAL PEOPLE!

Last but not least here is cute cute little Rae Rae!! :)

Happy 4th!

Summer is in full swing and I am loving every millisecond of it!! So what if it's a blazing 107 outside. It's the small price we have to pay to live in this amazing state.

I am VERY VERY VERY excited for the 4th of July. I am excited to go up to Eagar. I am excited that I am from the best town in the country. Everyone up there is so amazing and the celebration there is like none other. I am dreaming of the parade, pancake breakfast, rodeo, fireworks, chili beans, sunshine, and water balloons! Oh and I can't forget hamburgers and bisquits and gravy at Haws park! That brings back SO MANY memories of my childhood and the important people in my life. My parents, grandparents, Aunt's, Uncles, Aunt Dorothy. It's them who have made me who I am today. I am so proud of that heritage! They worked hard and served hard. They loved all they came in contact with! That is what I am going to celebrate this weekend! The fact that we are able to be free and live the lift that we want. We are able to be the person that makes us happy and befriend those around us. ALL BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY. Who knows how long it will be free? I want to enjoy it while I can. I see a major part of this country not living righteously so at any moment God can take that blessing away from us.

So who else is ready to PAR-TAAAAY the free way???

IT HAPPENED!

I have been waaaaiting for this. I didn't know exactly how soon it would happen and I have to admit it is a lot sooner than I had planned. This is something that happens in everyones life. It's a natural occurance. It isn't something that is earned but it sure does make you magically happy.......





































I SAVED $27 per month on Insurance for turning 25!!! YAHOOOO



no i am not in love. If you thought it was that you don't know me very well and you lose......

Happy 25th!!

Well it has happened. I have turned 25. 1/3 of my life is over. I really can't believe it. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel about it but I feel good. One thing is for sure, I am not where I thought I would be at the age of 25. I gave up the dream of married with kids and a suburban years ago but at 18 thats where I thought I would be at this point. Now I can say I am kind of thankful I am not there. The experiences I have had and the lessons I have learned are priceless. Granted I have missed out on learning many things from not having a husband and kids in my life but I still have plenty of time to learn that.

I thought I would have a degree at this point but sitting here today, I am not sorry I don't have it. Sure I have my associates but can't think of anything I would like to have a Bachelors in. I wish I wasn't so tied down and I have to admit that I am not really tied down at all. So why do I feel tied down? IDK. It's my gypsy heart I guess.

At 18 I never thought I would be able to run a 5k. Never thought I could survive in the corporate world. Never thought I could actually travel to Egypt. Never thought I could be a Relief Society teacher.

BUT I DID

I am excited for the next 5 years! I still have many things on my 30 before 30 list to complete. Some require a companion so we will see if that happens but a great deal of them require just me and my love for adventure.

BRING IT ON.

The festivities

First things first...Cake for breakfast at work. Does it get better than that? YES IT COULD. BAD way to start off a day!! haha.



Then the sisters took me out to lunch @ Joes Crab shack. CAN I SAY AWESOME? It was a fun place and the lobster and shrimp is amazing. Sure its a little weird to crack the legs of the crab and rip the meat out of the legs. Did I feel bad when I tore the legs off the shrimp before I ate it? maybe a little. BUT ITS SOOOO GOOD.

Let's get crackin shall we??

Trisha and Brynn with our lunch. We fed four of us with a meal for 2. Portions are HUGE.

Lindsey getting ready to attack the poor creatures...

WORD.

Who wouldn't want a crab leg mustache???

Brynn with our bucket of legs and trash.

I love my sista's!!

Thanks for lunch! It was amazing!
oh, but there is more... Dessert!

yum.

AFTER WORK Lindsey and Elicia took me out for a pedicure. We had girl

Can you guess who's foot is who's?? I think my foot looks like my moms.

Then we went to Elicia's house and ate Costa Vida and checked out wedding pictures. Here is her daughter Addison with my birthday hat on.

I got home to Flowers from Kara and Philosophy from Juliann. Thanks roommates! It made my day!! :) I always want flowers for my birthday and never get them so it was very good!

Me and my birthday balloons! Very fun to get these.

On the flowers were little cards with little things about me..

fantabulous

clean

pretty

important to me

etc.

It was very sweet.

I have wanted to try philosophy for a long time so this was great!! It smells amazing!!!

Last but not least I got a visit from Julie S and Meagan B! It was fun to chat with them. I wish I would have got a picture!! Roomates make the best friends for life!!

Payson Party!!!

Christi Killian invited us all up to her cabin!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! :)

We had a great time! We played Sardines in the dark, watched movies, played games, swimmed, laughed, danced, and ate cheese. Does it get any better??? I submit that it does not.

Lindsey and Jakeb were pretty serious about this game of Chess... I think Lindsey won. Thats right. She rocks.

Charles grilled some dogs and we ate out on the balcony. It was a beautiful night! pretty splendid.

OH What to say about Clinton. He is just Clinton. Quite, loud, funny, random, brave. It's pretty amazing.

Jenalee rocks my world! She is SUCH a girl. She is the girl I never was. It's fun to hang out with her.

I LOVE CHRISTI! She made some BOMB salsa. It.was.epic.
Mern & Charles

Here is everyone relaxing. I told them to do a funny pose, looks like only 2 got the memo... HAHA

OH LOOK. Charles does smile.. Who knew. (hi Charles ;) )

Nice rack. Hello Dear, I love you.

Sister Jammin on the guitar. Isn't that a beautiful fireplace?!

Roommate Juliann came. She is fun to hang out with! Adds a little spice to any party.

Hanging out the first night. Check out Clintons pajamas. We were all left pretty speechless.

Those things are amazing.

Sadly thats all the pictures I have. My camera broke.

I.HAVE.THE.WORST.LUCK.WITH.CAMERAS.

We were there 2 more days and many epic things happened. Hopefully I can get pictures from Christi so share with you. :)

It was the BEST birthday. Each year they get better and better. A wise man once told me that there isn't a way to pick a specific favorite year. They just build upon each other and get better and better.

Life is just one great big marinade.

MERN Wakeboards.... sort of....

Well I have tried to conquer my fear....of wakeboarding. It always looks so intense and I don't know if I have enough core strength, or arm strength, yada yada yada. Well it was time to try....

I start out smilin..Then I am screamin

I don't know what this is...kinda cool though.

At the end I am still smiling. I didn't get to a full standing position. I tried about 10 times. I got a killer blood blister on my hand and was sore for the next 4 days, but I TRIED. I will try again, and I will dominate. :)

TAPP

We had such a fun time at TAPP. That stands for Ted and Pats Posterity. We rented an SRP house on the cliff and enjoyed the nice weather, sun, and water. Great food, fun games, many laughs.

We celebrated Dallins birthday. He got some weights from Tyson and Kim.

Grandma made clothes for the girls barbies. They played for hours.

She is growing UP.

The suns game was on. This is Brynns suns face.

and dads SUNS face.

With all this help you think they could have won. Sheesh.

Max trying to be like Uncle Dallin.

okay so he is just a little stronger than me....

Okay so I am not really this weak...

honest.

California girls. Crazy.

Everyone watching the SUNS game. Did I mention how they lost??? grrrr

Chillin on the boat.

keeping out of the sun.

Fish and Brynn

I was impressed with Sara's MAD surfing skills.

Dallin learning to surf. I couldn't quite let go of the rope yet but he did great.

Naps are a MUST at TAPP. Just be careful where you nap. You never know where the camera will be...

And you never know who will jump on you when you nap.

You could say my family is a fan of games. I don't enjoy them all the time but most do.

I did try to play a game. Ticket to ride. I was on Christi's team. I got kicked off Christi's team. haha. Oh well... better luck next time.

The niece's and nephews, minus Brighton.

They are getting so big!

Jensen, Chloe, Annie, Max.

Check out the view!!

Brynn and Brighton! How cute is that!

My friend Christi came and stayed with us for a day! It was fun having her! She is such a sweetheart and has some mad wakeboarding skills! I love a friend that will just jump right in and have fun with the family. I didn't have to entertain or make sure she was okay. What a keeper. Now I just need a male version of her.

Lil Jensen.He is a heartbreaker. So Sweet.

Dallin in the hat I got him.