Dutchoven dinner and car racing

Last Monday we went up Big Cottonwood canyon and made dutchoven dinner with the some friends and family. Brandon was thrilled to use his dutchovens that we have had since we got married and never used! It was our first time cooking in them without help! Brandon was quite impressed with himself for a beginner! It tasted so YUMMY! We had chicken and potatoes and then of course s'mores and all kinds of treats! Brandon made jelepeno poppers. They were so hot, but good!

Over the weekend I drove up to Idaho with my mom, sisters, nieces and cousin for a family reunion. We gad quite the adventure with a 4 week old baby and a 2 1/2 year old, but it was fun to be with the girls! We kept saying we had a car full of straight estrogen.. 7 girls! We stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's in Driggs and watched my uncle and cousin race in the figure 8 race. It is kind of like a demolition derby, but they drive in a figure 8 and do laps and run into each other. I absolutely LOVE these!! My cousin won the first race and my uncle took 2nd place overall out of, i think, 22 cars! i couldn't get the greatest pictures because all I had was my phone!

Timing

I am horrible with words and explaining things, which is why I could never be a teacher, but I wanted to share my thoughts. Today we went to a good friends' baby blessing which was wonderful. One of the speakers talked about Heavenly Father's plan and a time and season for everything, etc. I turned to Brandon and said "WOW..this talk is for me!" It really got me thinking all day about timing and how it affects and has a lot to do in our lives.
Just yesterday we went to Seven Peaks with my family. Cara and I were sitting there waiting for everyone to come back and some guy was leaving and was very nice to ask us if we wanted his tubes! WOW! Talk about timing and being in the right place at the right time.
Coming off the freeway and heading towards home trying to make every light green all the way up 45th South is all about timing! (although it never happens).
There is nothing better than hearing your favorite song on the radio to make your day just a little better! Or how about having to wait for the rain to stop to make a dash to your car to not get wet. Or how about just missing that horrible wreck and thinking if you would have been just seconds earlier/later it could have been you! Or how about when you are down and need someone to talk to just as a friend calls. A lot of things that happen in life are about timing good or bad. I truly believe that EVERYTHING happens for a reason whether we find out the reason or not. Heavenly Father really does have a plan for us and is looking out for us whether we want to see it that way or not! I have for sure learned that everyone's plans are so different and no... sometimes it is SO not fair, but we really are being looked after as long as we are trying our best!
In college, I had wanted to be married so badly. I couldn't figure out what my problem was, but my Mom kept telling me it was all about timing. I was sure that there was no way I was going to find a husband working at Maddox ALL THE DANG TIME! She kept telling me over and over to give it time and that it wasn't the right time. Well.. little did I know.. Brandon (my prince charming) was right under my nose the WHOLE TIME! We always talk about how weird that we had worked together for so long and nothing ever happened until 2 years later. I can now look back and see the reasons why--one being that I honestly don't know if I would have finished school if it would have been earlier and that was a very important goal to me! Even though I can see the blessings of how this situation worked out and it really was all about timing I still am not fully cured of my doubts and concerns. I wish I could be, but I am happy to report that I am making some progress!

I have always been able to feel the spirit even more through music. Yesterday while doing a lot of traveling in the car we listened to sounds of Sunday and I felt the spirit so strong and it was almost like I felt a big giant hug from my Heavenly Father letting me know that everything was going to be okay and to just hang in there!! What an awesome feeling! How can you not believe in the gospel when something so powerful like this happens!? I know it was probably because of my wonderful and loving family also...I really felt and appreciate your love and your prayers!! I will be okay and one day my dreams will come true! It is all about timing and it just isn't time right now! I keep trying to tell myself that and not worry about what I want so bad right now but it still is so hard! I am just so glad that I have such a wonderful companion by my side to go through this with and that is so patient with me! I couldn't ask for anything better! He is my rock and is sometimes the only thing that can calm me down! He is always there to let me cry in his arms and listens to me and never asks questions!
I am not a patient person at all.. I can't stand waiting in lines, I can't stand waiting for people, when I want something I want it NOW and I don't want to wait, so timing and patience is something that I really need to work on and I think through this experience I am really learning a lot about this very thing and a lot about myself. I am so grateful for these experiences that have helped me to become a stronger person!
I have learned that as much as you try to plan your life.. it really is not up to you.. all you can do is try to make your decisions through listening to those promptings and by doing what you know is right and all else will fall into place! Although life is not fair and probably never will be, I have learned to accept what I have been given and move on with life as hard as it might be. I truly feel so blessed for the opportunity to increase my faith and my testimony and feel so much closer to my Father in Heaven!

No Bears at White Pine Lake!!

We ( Brandon, me, my Dad, and Brandon's friend Nate/Dawg) have been planning this backpacking overnight trip for awhile up to White Pine Lake. It is up Logan canyon/Tony Grove. It is a 4 mile hike in and then of course 4 out and we backpacked everything in for 2 nights (gear, food, etc). I am not a HUGE fan of hiking/backpacking, but I do enjoy camping (thanks mom and dad for always taking us when we were younger), so I thought this would be fun and I would give it a try! I like to challenge myself and prove to myself that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to! And once I start something.. I am not backing out before it is finished!!


I think I was actually kind of looking forward to it, but definately not as much as Brandon was! He had all his gear out and ready to go a week before it was time to pack and kept coming up with new stuff that we needed to buy! In the whole 4.5 years that Brandon and I have been together we have NEVER once been camping. I think we just worked all the weekends when we were first married and just haven't done it since. Brandon has some really nice camping stuff, so we wondered why we waited so long. We do need to purchase a bigger tent though! i was a little nervous about making it and keeping up with the 3 other guys (yes.. I was the only girl), but I did pretty okay and I even carried all my own stuff plus some extra food and gear(about 40 lbs)! It is a good thing I have been working out like crazy! :) The thing I worried most about was bears! I was sure that a bear was going to come rip through the tent while I was sleeping and get me and nobody would know! :) Don't worry, we made it home safely without seeing any bears. We didn't even see any wildlife!!
I woke up from taking a nap and nobody was in the camp, but I heard pounding and I found these 3 trying to saw down this tree. After 3 times getting the saw stuck, sawing away, and pushing for about an hour it finally went down! The park ranger told us there would be NO firewood! Liar. The boys had tons of fun and spent a lot of time cutting wood. The next people in our campsite will like us!! :) There was also a little stream of fresh water. We had filters. The water was SO yummy coming from a fresh spring!


We had fun. I made it out with only 2 blisters on each heel ( I didn't want to be whoosy and make them stop for me to fix my shoes! :)), 1 burn on my finger ( I lifted the pot off the camp stove not thinking it would be hot!), and scraped up knuckles ( my turn at using the saw.. the tree got me!). Not bad, eh?
Our little hike around the lake.
Taking a dip in the freezing cold water. It worked great for a little cleaning. Brandon and Nate were brave enough to go all the way under!! Yikes!!

We had way too much food and burnt a lot of leftovers and gave some away to other campers!
The hike was beautiful and worth it! I am not very good at taking pictures or for that matter being in them, but here they are. The scenic ones don't even do it justice! I am glad that I went. I am exhausted so don't ask me about going on another one of these trips anytime soon! :) Brandon is asking himself how he ever did a 50 mile hike in the Uinatas with a way bigger pack! He must be gettin old! :) We had a good time, but it sure is nice to be home where we are clean, have backs and cushion on our chairs, don't stink, and have a toilet! :)

Pioneer Day

Zach
This picture is really dark, but it is Spencer.. I think it is so funny he is crossing his legs!

Father and son!
Sitting around enjoying creamies and the couples telling the kids how we met! The older ones enjoyed it, but the younger ones were super bored and doing other things! It is fun to have those memories!

I am not really sure what they are doing here! :) Thanks Tai for the pictures!
I am so glad that we live in Utah and get to celebrate Pioneer Day and the best part is to have another day off work! We filled our day full of fun. We went to the parade. I thought it was kind of lame and definately HOT! We then went to Brandon's brothers house and had lunch and hung out with the kids. Everyone was so tired, but we managed to play a little ball with no shade. It was so hot as well and I didn't give my food time to digest, but it was still fun! I am so not a ball player. Of course our team lost..probably a little of my fault. Brigham had to get a bat in between everyone, so the game took forever! I got a little bit of a tan out of it! We then went to Brandon's other brothers house to have dinner and spent the rest of the night there. I love to spend time with family! We watched their neighbors fireworks which were great. It really stunk to have to go back to work on Friday.

the whole clan minus Kristi (the picture taker)

Brandon and Tai found the shade. It didn't take long for me to join them!

Brandon and I at the parade
Kristi and Brigham
exhausted from the heat..
Playing ball:

Cora Jane

I am really behind and I am sure that most of you have seen the pictures of little Cora ( my sister's baby) on Cara's blog, but I wanted to post a few. She was born on July 15th and weighed a tiny 5 lbs 12 oz and is now down to 5 lbs 2 oz but perfectly healthy! She is so teeny tiny!! I can't get over how small she is!! It is so much fun to have a new baby in the family. I love holding and cuddling her! How cute and precious she is! I am so excited for Matt and Cara! I am so glad that we live close enough to see her often! I hope that Cara and Matt aren't annoyed of us yet! :) I love the pictures of Brandon holding her. I went to take her from him and he said "no, I am not done yet"! I love watching him with little babies and I can't wait till we have one of our own.

4 10's

Its official….DWS is going to a 4-day work week! The governor passed an initiative indicating that all government agencies would be closed on Fridays as part of the Governor's 4 E's program: Energy, Environment, Employee Benefit and Extended Hours. There was much speculation on whether or not my office would be able to due so due to the fact that much of our work is guided by federal guidelines and policies. I won't bore you with the details, but we hear that being closed for 3 days in a row was not going to work for our agency. We later found out that rule doesn't apply. I thought this would be a way out of 4 10's. NOPE! We will start working 4 10's on August 4th. I am really quite not liking the idea and am not too excited about it, but do I have a choice? Not if I want to keep my job and get paid!

Advantages:
* Fridays off--3 day weekends every week.. some holidays fall on Thursday (christmas, thanksgiving, new years) this year so it is a 4 day weekend.
* I work at home, so I am already HOME and don't have travel time.

Disadvantages
* less holidays off. They were only going to pay us for 8 hour holidays and make us make up the other 2 hours on the 3 days that we worked( to make even longer days) that week or use our annual time, but instead they are taking away 2 days off (columbus day and veterans day). They say the old way we had 88 hours paid holiday and this gives us 90, but usually the governor gives us 4 hours time off during the holiday.. this year we only get 2.. Sneaky, isn't he! What a freak! And I voted for him? I obviously was not a state employee at the time!
* less flexibility--- 4 10's pretty much has no flexibility. With a 5 day work week, you can atleast make up hours that you didn't work yesterday today and throughout the week. NO more of that! I loved this part of it.. something comes up.. that is okay.. make up the time tommorow. GRR!! I will miss this!
* LONG DAYS!--our office will be open from 7-6 everyday although we will only have to do 10 hours, but I am not excited about long days. I get exhausted listening to people complain and cry after just 8 hours or less! :)
* having to use annual time for any appointments during the week.
* how are state employees supposed to do state related things.. drivers license, car registration, etc if they are closed on Friday too.. guess we use our annual then too.
* child care issues-- not that it applies to me.. but a lot of people have child care issues because day cares close at the latest 6 and don't have time to get the kids before they close
* not family friendly--we will always have LATE dinners and not a lot of time for family at night.

As you can tell, being the pessimist that I am.. I hate it and of course found more negative than positive!! I just really don't think it is going to save all this energy and crap.. not if everyone is driving all over on Friday's for their errands! I just think it is lame, but again, I am grateful I have a job and I will do it because I have no other choice! I am just not a fan of Mr. Huntsman!

Tag

I stink at these tag things!

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, & 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

3 joys:
* Brandon-- I really can't imagine my life without him and love every second that I get to be with him!
* family-- I enjoy spending time with family and am so glad that I have them! And of course friends.
* wow.. I must not find joy in a lot of things because I am having a really hard time with this one-- I will update when I think of one!

3 fears:
* loosing Brandon--I get so worried that Brandon is going to die early and leave me alone.
* not being able to have children--is it stupid that this is one of my fears? I really am so worried that I will not be able to have my own children
* the dark--I HATE the dark! I get so mad when Brandon is in bed before me because that means I have to turn off the lights and walk to the bedroom in the dark. I hate it!!

3 goals:
* loose LOTS of weight--once I figure out what my problem is and get it under control it might be a little easier
* be a better person and be a more spiritual person
* get Brandon done with school and survive working a little bit longer!! I am so burnt out! I don't know how anyone can be a career woman! :) Maybe I just need a BIG vacation! Can this be a goal? if not.. my other goal is to get everything on my to do list crossed off!

obsessions/collections:
* working out/eating right
* I love to collect notepads and cards. It is probably weird, but every time I go to Target or Michaels or anywhere with a dollar section, I have to see if there are cute notepads or sets of cards. I am pathetic! :)
* I also collect letter G's..the wooden ones of all different shapes, sizes and colors.


3 random facts:
* I still have a blanket that I sleep with-- I don't know if I should admit this or not. I have had it FOREVER and it is really starting to fall apart--what am I going to do? I guess I will have to grow up! Brandon calls it my "stupid blankie".
* I have never had stitches.... (other than surgeries.. but that doesn't count does it?) I want to say I have never broken a bone because I have never had a cast.. but I did break my ankle running on the wonderful field in jr. high. My mom didn't think it was broken so we didn't go into the dr till 2 weeks later and it had already started to heal so I didn't need a cast.
* Brandon's and my social security numbers are almost identical--2 numbers are different. Guess we were meant to be or something! :)

I am tagging anyone who wants to to it!!