Jess and Jeremy

From my personal journal....

2011-07-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

I write to process feelings. I always have. I have a personal little private blog that I use as a journal. Tonight for some reason, I was reading through old posts and I came across this one from June. Grandma passed away in December and this day is still clear in my mind. I'm glad I took the time to write about it so that it always will be. Not sure why I felt compelled to share. I'm fairly certain this is basically a private blog as well, but nonetheless, I post:

I love you Grandma.

I think in life, we don't take enough advantage of learning a bit from those who have been through it all before. I talk to my mom a lot and I like to talk to friends and co-workers, but I realized today that I really don't take enough opportunity to hear what my elders really have to say. I think that we often end up seeing visits to grandparents as somewhat of a chore unfortunately. I feel bad even saying it but I think it is true.

I went to visit my grandma today in the hospital in Ogden. Her hair is thinning, almost gone really, her legs are frail and thin, her arms are bruised and swollen from the chemo and the needle pricks. But her eyes were still the same. Her voice was still my grandma. Of course, she said that she didn't want me to have come, she wanted to save me the trip and the time, but her eyes told a different story. It was a couple of hours in my life, but had I not made the trip, I may have never known that my grandma had her reception for her wedding as a house-warming party with the oddest guest list ever. The first to arrive were the parents of her ex-husband, followed by church clergy, beer salesmen, businessmen, bartenders, and everything in between. Grandpa Ted spent the majority of the affair passed out in the bedroom after being delivered home by his friends from the bar. She told me about Grandpa Ted's logging adventures and about how she would follow him to the site in the pickup and run to town for supplies and about the time he wowed her with his ability to navigate out through the forest using his intuition alone only to find out later that he had marked the trees in the path along the way. She talked about the Saturday mornings in Ventura when she would take my mom and uncles to the beach for a picnic and because of the fog, would end up back at home in the backyard eating their chicken and salads. We talked about my mom and dad and about sadness and frustration over how things ended up. She told me how proud she was of me, told me to enjoy the moments of my life, and to be careful not to wish them away.

I walked out of the hospital this morning with an indescribable happiness. One that comes from knowing that you made someone's day, one that comes from the joy of being tied to something way bigger and longer lasting than just yourself - a happiness that I don't ever allow myself to enjoy enough. I could have justified for a thousand reasons for not taking the few hours to drive up there. Lord knows that I have a million things on my to-do list before leaving to go out of town on Monday, between the wedding and everything else. But I would have really missed out if I hadn't gone. It makes me wonder how many other amazing experiences that I miss out on by justifying not doing it - by being too busy and caught up in the things that really ultimately don't matter, only to sacrifice the moments and things in life that do.

Another element to the whole big puzzle I suppose.....I think that I need to make a pretty big effort to look at the things in my life that I spend my time doing and evaluate which of those things really matter. Granted, I do love to work, I love to be a busy body, but I think a good inventory of where I spend my time in relationship to my actual priorities is not a bad idea. I may be surprised where I am wasting energy that could be spent on my happiness!

Blood, sweat, and a few frustrated tears

2011-03-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

So this post is a bit out of the ordinary - not a typical family holiday memory post. Instead, it's focused around the other 1/2 of my life - work. I've realized over the past couple of months that there are very very few people who really know what it is that I actually do every day. And by very few I mean pretty much my co-workers! So, since I am at a point that my team and I have some great things to show for all of our work - it might be a good time to give some insight to those who care to know what my work life is all about.

I'll try to keep this as short of an explanation as possible. Pretty much, Neutron Interactive hired me to develop and run a recruiting division of their company about a year and a half ago. Last summer, we had started a partnership with a company in Provo called EnticeLabs. In September, we bought the company, merged their technologies and some of their best employees, and today, we operate as a separate division of Neutron Interactive. We have spent that last 6 months figuring out the vision moving forward and thanks to my talented team of developers, we have built some technologies that are pretty amazing. I'll stop with my explanation and just post some info that will give some better insight. So here it is - my life's work recently :)

This is our promo video that gives an overview of our product Talentbase (don't worry it's only 60 seconds)....
TalentBase 60 Second from EnderLabs on Vimeo.

Here are a few pics of me and my team at the conference we recently exhibited at, this last week in San Deigo....

And here is our updated website that tells a bit more about who we are .....

http://www.enticelabs.com/

Christmas in Mexico

2011-01-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I think we've officially established that traveling for Christmas is going to be the continued tradition for our team. I think it comes down to the fact that at this point, we would rather have the memories and the time together doing something fun and amazing than we would the monetary things that quite honestly we just don't need. It's the best of both worlds really. So this year, we headed off to warm and sunny Puerto Vallarta!

I have been to quite a few places in Mexico now in my life, but this was my first go round to PV. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect and we really did this plan pretty last minute (typical for us). So, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our beautiful resort in this beautiful place.

This was an all inclusive, so to say that we had our fair share of food and drinks would be an understatement - it seemed like we would finish one meal and then it was time for the next! We hit the town for some shopping and of course an appearance and Senior Frogs. We spent a lot of time playing on the beach, chasing crabs and wrestling with the waves (I typically lost this battle unfortunately).

But the highlight of the trip was absolutely our adventure into the jungle. It started with a trip on a little pontoon boat of sorts as we headed along the coast and over to this cute little tucked away beach area about 40 minutes from downtown. We got off the boat and loaded up into these military style vehicles where we belted in the backseat and cruised up the switchbacks toward the top of the mountain. (I could have done without this part).

When we arrived at the "camp" from there, we loaded on to our mules and completed the journey to the top of the mountain. This was Jeremy's first experience on any sort of mule or horse-like animal. He claimed not to be looking forward to this, but I think he appears to be pretty happy with the little guy! One thing I did not know about mules is that they are not as lazy or slow as you might expect. In fact, a couple of the guys who were in our group and riding them up by Veronica and I found it to be incredibly amusing to race their mules as fast as they could. Apparently when one mule is running, the rest quickly follow. The screeching and screaming that V and I innately did as a result was enough to encourage them to continue the entire ride.

Once we reached the top, the really amazing part began. We proceeded back down through the jungle on 14 different ziplines and 2 repel courses. It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Repelling down 100 foot waterfall in the Mexican jungle was pretty incredible! The girls were the youngest of the group and were champs!

We seriously had such an amazing time! I would jump at the chance to zipline in any jungle again in the future!

Then here are some more fun pics of us on our balcony and just hanging out enjoying our holiday :)

Feliz Navidad!

First Thanksgiving

2010-12-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

So, 2010 marks the year of my first official preparation and hosting of Thanksgiving dinner! I was so happy that we were able to have Nick and Harm down for a few days to soak up some time with them and the kids. We started off the weekend's events with some gingerbread house making. Xander felt like it was highly necessary to clean the tip of the icing after each application to ensure that there was no build up. They were mini houses, but they turned out pretty cute!

The girls both drove up in the morning and mom and Danyelle joined as well. The house is built more for a family like the Littles but it always forces us to be close and cozy if nothing else! :)

I cooked the world's biggest turkey. I can't believe I didn't get a picture. I didn't realize just how out of control it was until I saw everyone's reaction. I asked mom and she told me 20 lbs, so I figured 24 would be perfect. (this is my typical logic for things)
Jeremy made me take care of all of the yucky innards and stuff but luckily helped with the actual roasting of the bird. It turned out amazing if I do say so myself! And as Veronica kept saying we had lots of "chicken" left over too.

The rest of the day was spent playing lots and lots of games. Danyelle mastered DJ Hero while Kynlee entertained the crowd with her backup dancing while she scratched. I busted out some pretty amazing vocals on Beatles Rock Band, and the ipad was a very popular item. Board games have never been an overly successful thing with this crowd, but add a digital element and we're all over it!

It was a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. I love my family so so much! I can't wait til I can host again.... maybe next time with a bit bigger house hopefully!

V's new car

2010-09-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

So, the time has come that Veronica is driving all the time and needs to be able to get herself to school and work and all of that grown up stuff! We started looking for cars a couple of months ago and the idea evolved a bit on what we would get for her. We know how much our little family loves surprises (Jeremy especially loves to plan them) and we decided on surprising her with a cute little bug - the car she has always wanted. It's the perfect teenage girl car and we just couldn't resist!

On the Saturday morning that we planned to do some car shopping, we had V looking up cars on KSL that were the cheapest we could find. We wanted to get her in that mindset and thinking that those were the types of cars that were her options. One of the things I love most about the girls is that when we do things like this - they always amaze me at how thankful they are for things, despite the fact that we do tend to spoil them a bit. V was perfectly content and excited about these crappy little beater cars that she was looking at!

Jeremy and I had spent the week getting the car all ready - oil change, new tires, detailed inside and out, waxed, inspected, registered, insured, and ready for her to drive. I tracked down a giant bow that morning and we pulled the car onto the lawn for the big reveal!

Veronica was beside herself she was so excited. The tears came almost immediately, along with jumping up and down and screaming in disbelief! I can't even begin to describe the happiness that you feel when you get to do things like this for your kids. It might be the greatest feeling ever!

We spent the rest of the weekend teaching her and practicing with her on mastering how to drive a stick shift. She actually picked it up really quickly and did amazing! It was a pretty crazy feeling on Sunday night when our weekend was over to send the girls home, on their own! I seriously can't believe they are that big now! So surreal!

I'm sure V looks way too cute cruising around in her little beetle :)

Wedding Pics

2010-08-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker

2010-08-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it is already getting near our one month anniversary, so I suppose I should get some wedding stuff up! I got our video back from the videographer last week and I really love it. We had such a good time watching it and remembering all of the funny and fabulous moments! I honestly don't know if I can even put my wedding day into words. So for now, I'll just post the links to the videos and will update the pics when I get them. I think the only thing that I can say is that it was absolutely perfect! Completely worth all of the planning and stress. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.... and Jer is definitely the luckiest guy ;) ha!

Oh, and I do have a link to some of the amazing bridals that my talented sister in law took for me if you want to peek at her work.....
My bridal pics

And here are the links to the youtube videos:

Planning a wedding

2010-06-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, to say that the last couple of months have been a whirlwind may be a bit of an understatement! Planning a wedding is......well, an adventure to say the least. I am a person who truly thrives on being busy - I love to have long to-do lists, things to accomplish, and I function best at 100 miles an hour. That being said - I am exhausted! I don't think it's so much the wedding planning alone, but a combination of that, work, traveling for work, and a crazy dose of real life otherwise as well. However, I have learned a lot of really important lessons over the course of the last couple of months:

I really think that I might truly be one of the luckiest people in the whole world. I honestly and truthfully have THE most amazing friends and family that a person could ask for! I find myself taken back sometimes at how much support and help and love everyone is always offering and giving me.
I do not look good carrying 3 lbs of swelling in my face! :(
Life is short - and precious. You never know when it is going to throw you a complete curve ball, so never ever take anything or anyone for granted.
No matter how much you plan ahead and stress about something, it could and likely will change at the last minute anyway, so don't take it too much to heart and just roll with the punches.
Everything is always way more expensive than you think it should be.
It's okay to ask for help - and it's a good idea to have really talented friends and family that are happy to do so.....they make life so much easier!
I am not one of those people who loses their appetite when stressed - in fact, I am quite the opposite.
My procrastination and "last-minuteness" may drive a few people in my life a bit crazy.
When a doctor gives me specific instructions - I should follow them! They are not simply suggestions that don't apply to me!

It's very easy to get caught up in the details of everything that is going on but ultimately I've realized that none of those things matter - the only thing that does actually matter is that I get to marry my best friend who makes me laugh every single day of my life and when it's all said and done - that's what I get to take away, so the rest is just gravy!! :)

It's just around the corner! A little over 2 weeks and I really can't wait. I finally feel like I want to just do this already!

Me and my nuggets

2010-05-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

I so look forward to the weekends I get to spend with my favorite little nuggets in the world! They are getting so big and their personalities are so incredibly fun! I've been doing it since they were just little and so I was thrilled when Harm called to see if I wanted to take them for a few days recently. We decided that since Kyn had not yet been on a zoo adventure with me and Xander that we really needed to experience it. She was beyond excited about going. When we pulled up to my house late Thursday night after our trip from Malad, she woke up and thought we were going to go then!

We met up with Cathy and Miss Isla for our day's adventure. We found ourselves having to fight the rain all day, so we tried to coordinate the showers with time under cover of the carousel and the umbrellas to eat.

My little Kynlee is a performer at heart I think. Every time I would tell her to look at me for a picture, I would get some kind of great little pose. And you can tell that mom is a photographer because they definitely know how to be ready for the camera - most of the time you can actually see them saying the word "CHEEEEEESSSSSEEEEE"

I can't believe how big my Xander is getting!

We had such a great time at the zoo! The kids couldn't wait to see the crocodile and they absolutely LOVED the bird show! During the bird show, Kynlee was so amazed that she would turn and repeat everything that the announcer was saying to me - it was pretty hilarious!

Then, I was lucky enough to be able to get my little niecey ready for her dance competition at Lagoon on Saturday. It was truly heaven for me! And I must say - she did a phenomenal job! My memory card was full right as she went on to perform and most of my pics of her don't even come close to capturing how incredibly adorable she looked. I was one proud little auntie though!

I love my kiddos more than words could explain!

Thanks Nick and Harm for letting me spoil them once in a while!

JESS-A-PALOOZA

2010-05-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

I really do have the BEST friends in the whole world....really! I am sure that I have said it before, but honestly - they are amazing. Based on the original wedding date of May 21, Cathy planned the most fabulous adventure to the Colorado wineries for my bachelorette party the last weekend in April. It was honestly the perfect weekend! We relaxed, hot tubbed, had massages, went to some amazing wineries, had our own little dance parties, and just generally had our as usual - great time with each other.

Cathy of course was the perfect hostess - she had everything covered from cute decorations in our amazing suite to t-shirts with Jess-a-palooza printed on them (full outfits complete with rings and headbands and fabulous make-up bags just because). I have to admit that I quite love traveling with my group of friends because I really don't have to think much - they arrange limo transportation, scope out the best places to eat, find the best deals on rooms, and cover every detail in between!

And the wineries.....wow! They were so great! Who knew that Grand Junction was this hidden little place that was so beautiful and had such great wineries!

We did attempt to enjoy a little night life in "The Junk" as well. It was.....well, interesting! Cathy made it a bit more interesting with a scavenger hunt at the bar including some interesting tasks for us each to complete. I got some great marriage advice, got donations for the wedding and danced with the oldest guy in the bar, but fell short of winning by one.

We had a great time of course, but as usual, it seems that we really have our best times when we are having our private dance parties in our room or in the back of the limo with just us to entertain ourselves!

Best weekend ever, best friends ever, celebrating the fact that I'm marrying the best guy ever - LIFE IS GOOD! :)

THANKS GIRLS!!

Getting older

2010-03-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

So, I’m not going to lie and pretend that I haven’t spent my fair share of time struggling with the idea of getting older. There is something really unsettling about the rising number attached to you that is difficult to ignore sometimes. There are absolutely things about aging that I don’t love. For instance, I am not a fan of crow’s feet. I don’t love that my body doesn’t respond to my crash diets like it used to. Being called ma’am (yes, it’s happened twice now) makes me want to throw up a little bit. And the never-ending nagging of the social pressures attached to age is, of course, part of the equation.

All that being said however, I have to say that as I’ve spent some time thinking about adding another number to my age, I’ve come to one conclusion. I absolutely LOVE where I am at in my life right now. I wouldn’t trade where I am now for where I was 10 years ago or 5 years ago for anything in the world.

I feel like the older that you get the more intensely you get to feel great things about life. It could be because you learn to really appreciate things once you have gone through more of the challenges and struggles. Or possibly, it’s the fact that as you move along in your life, the things that you deal with are really and truly on such a bigger scale. I don’t think that anything could ever compare to the mass of emotions that you feel when dealing with children and your own little family. Whatever the reason, it is something that is undeniable to me. The ups are so incredibly high, the stress is so overwhelming, and there are a lot of moments that are truly life-changing, but I have learned to love that intensity. I have also learned that no matter how bad it feels like things may be sometimes, life has proven time and time again that it will ALWAYS turn around and when it does, you will be stronger, smarter, and better off than you ever were before.

So – I suppose I’m forcing myself to emotionally age gracefully and accept it, now if I can just work on accepting the physical aging as well!

Boardin

2010-03-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

It seems like every year, Jeremy and I dread winter more and more and this year is no exception. We have some SERIOUS spring fever and can't wait for it to warm up so we can resume the more active version of our lives! In the meantime though, we decided to do our best to take advantage of the winter. We've both snowboarded for a long time and some years we'll make it up a few times and some years it seems like we're lucky to make it once!

Kaylee had been asking about snowboarding and had mentioned wanting to try it several times so one Sunday we decided to head up to Snowbasin and get her a lesson and see how she liked it. Well, it turned out that she was a natural! She picked it up so quickly and absolutely LOVED it! I remember my learning process years ago and as I watch her, I sure remember struggling a lot more!

She has been a driving force to get up the mountain most weekends and it's been great. I really do love the sport and the three of us have a blast riding around. It's a great way to end our weekend together for sure!

Our Alternative Christmas

2010-01-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

We decided to skip out on all of the gifts and craziness of Christmas this year and head out for some family getaway time instead and I must say - it worked out perfectly! It was our first experience with a cruise and I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about them over the years. I think that for us, it provided a great chance to really just relax completely - minimal planning, no decisions on where to eat or what to do, and it gave us 6 days to sit back and enjoy the scenery......exactly what we all really needed this time!

After a quick morning stop in San Diego for breakfast and the much anticipated trip to Pinkberry for the most amazing frozen yogurt with strawberries and fruity pebbles :)....we headed to the dock to board our ship. These things are literally cities on the water....it's insane how big they are inside and how easy it is to get lost. We joked about a whole wing of the ship being called Narnia because I swear it was hidden from us for 2 days!

The rooms, however, were somewhat of a different story. I was pretty impressed that they managed to find a way to squeeze 5 twin size beds into a cabin that was probably 8 ft by 15 ft. Then add the luggage and toiletries of 4 girls and you have a pretty cramped little space! I would have expected that these close quarters might have resulted in a need for some serious alone time now and then as well as some strained moments between all of us, but instead, it turned into an 8th grade slumber party. We honestly spent the majority of our time giggling ourselves to sleep at night! Not to mention that we all slept like babies! That may have been partially a result of the rocking of the boat coupled with the medication that we were all taking. We called our bedroom the infirmary most of the time because Dr. Whittaker was administering necessary meds to keep the virus that was running through all of us from ruining our trip. I have to say - he did a pretty amazing job too - it didn't keep anyone down at all! This pic just gives some perspective on how close the quarters were......and shows the cute little towel animals they made for us every night!

The close living space and rocking of the boat also led to one of the funniest moments of the trip. Veronica had been tanning a few times before we left to try to get her skin ready for the sun and had a mishap that resulted in a sunburned bum. Shauni was lying on the bed and Veronica went to show her how red her butt was. She pulled down her shorts right as the boat rocked in that direction which made V lose her balance and land directly on Shauni's face. The best part was that Shauni had absolutely no idea what Veronica was even doing in the first place, so her look of surprise and disgust was totally priceless!!!

The time traveling to Cabo and back gave us some time to eat good food, swim, eat, hang out in the fresh ocean air, eat, play ping-pong, eat, nap, eat, and eat some more. And yes, we did it in that order. I seriously couldn't believe how much food we consumed. With a 24 hour ice cream bar and pizza station, in addition to 3 full meals a day, we probably averaged the caloric intake of an olympic athlete! Jeremy took a liking to the chocolate/vanilla ice cream cones and I seriously have never seen someone's face light up like his would when we would suggest getting one or walk past the station where he could fill up.....it was hilarious! I am not exaggerating when I say that he probably ate 6 a day at least!

We arrived in Cabo Monday morning and were met by a bit of chilly and wet weather. We were scheduled for a swim with dolphins that morning and weren't going to let a little sprinkle get in the way. I have to say that honestly this experience with the dolphins is probably one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life. The whole thing was pretty surreal. They are such incredible creatures and being up close with them and having a chance to touch them, play with them, and even ride them - was insane! The photographer there was able to catch some pretty cool pics and these are probably my favorite of the trip!

After the dolphin swim, we hit the town to see the sites. Cabo San Lucas gets an average rainfall of about 2 inches per year. Well, we happened to come on the day that managed to squeeze in the rainfall for this year and the next several to come! I think this pic of the motorcycle just cruising it this is hilarious!

We went to eat at a place called Cabo Wabo for lunch and had a blast. They had some great live music and the atmosphere was awesome. It was at this point of really enjoying ourselves that we decided we just didn't want to get back on the ship that night. So......I started a campaign to go AWOL and stay the night in a hotel and catch up with them again in the morning. It didn't take much convincing, Shauni booked us an amazing hotel room, and we were officially fugitives from the boat!

The next morning when we had to get up at 6:00 to get a cab back to the dock, hoping to get on the boat back to the ship to get our excursion tickets and change our rain-soaked, day-old clothes......let's just say that this wasn't Jeremy's favorite part of the trip! Well, to be fair, I don't think it was anyone's favorite but it was an adventure and we can laugh at it now! We didn't have time to get back to the ship before our snorkeling boat left for the morning unfortunately, so in our clothes from the day before (rotated around for variation), we headed out snorkeling!

We got to hit two spots on our snorkel adventure. The best was Chilleno Bay. The water was really clear and there were some awesome fish there. Jose (the boat driver) and his shipmates thought that the most hilarious thing was to throw out tortilla bites to the fish right next to the girls and to watch us freak out when we would put our heads under water and see the hundreds of fish swarming around us. Okay, I might have been the one who screamed the loudest, which of course encouraged them and got Jeremy in on the game as well!

On our way back to the harbor, we had a chance to see 2 baby humpback whales! It was incredible!! There were a bunch of boats out that were specifically for whale watching, so it was awesome to get a two-for-one deal and see it too!

We had such a funny experience with this pedi-cab that we took back towards the boat on our last day there. As we started walking towards the dock, I was approached by a guy who offered to give us a ride for $20. I told him we had 5 people and negotiated him to $10 and we hopped in for a ride. Well, we quickly saw that this poor guy who was struggling to pull 5 lazy gringos behind him was riding a bike with NO BRAKES! We started heading down the hill and as we approached a cross street where people were walking through, he just started yelling "BEEP BEEP" and plowed through the middle of them with us trailing behind! This tough little guy was really earning his money as he heaved our 700 lbs up a hill to get us to our destination. After another scary confrontation with an oncoming bus and our vocal horn, we luckily made it safe. Needless to say - he earned himself a hefty tip :)

We rounded out our final hours in Cabo with lunch at Senior Frogs. It's such a fun place and the girls loved it! The waiters were so fun and they even managed to convince the girls to get out for a little salsa dancing with them.....

So, we made it back to the ship - were relieved to finally change our clothes :) and settled back into our eating and relaxing routine for the next day and a half while we traveled back to the mainland.

We got back into San Diego early on Thursday morning and decided to take a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I haven't ever been before and Jeremy and Shauni hadn't been since they were little so it was really neat to see. Definitely much better than the zoo because the animals seem to have some room to live and move around.

We spent the final days of our vacation hanging out at Shauni's place in Los Angeles. Of course we ate more delicious food, did some shopping and site seeing, and even managed to fit in some wedding dress browsing.

All in all, it was a perfectly amazing trip! We had such a great time and it was an excellent break from life. I have a feeling we might embrace this "alternative Christmas" idea again in the future.

It's Official!

2009-12-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I figure this is as good of a time as any to re-enter the blogging world. I know that blogging is really about journaling things that you want to remember and this is a story that I never want to forget. So, I want to write it down while it's fresh on my mind and I can recall all of the amazing details. Here we go - from the very beginning.

A couple of weeks ago, at my new (fabulous) job, my boss came to me and told me that he needed me to take a trip to Chicago to the Careerbuilder headquarters to discuss some new potential contracts and some relationships that they were going to help us get with some new clients. He said that I would be going with my other boss Dan and that they needed me to leave town on Friday, December 4th for a few days. I, of course, agreed and started actually getting excited about the shopping that I read about in Chicago!

As the time got closer, I started getting filled in on the details of the trip. We were going to have some meetings Friday when I got in and then dinner Friday night with the CareerBuilder team and a Bulls game was slated for Saturday. I was kind-of bummed honestly because it sounded like there was going to be a lot of down time and I wanted Jeremy to come with me! I've never been to Chicago and it was somewhere that we had talked about going together. But - its a new job and I didn't know how that would look to bring my boyfriend along, so I didn't push it.

Friday rolled around and I was scheduled to fly out of Salt Lake at 10:00. Dan was originally on the same flight out as I was but Thursday morning told me that his wife had decided to join him in Chicago, so he would be taking a different flight with her and getting in a few hours later. So, alone I took my flight, arrived in Chicago around 2 and jumped in a cab to my hotel (the Hard Rock). As I arrived at the hotel and checked into my beautiful corner room with a magnificent view, I was immediately disappointed that I would be spending the next two nights in this place alone :( But, I quickly decided to seize the time I had before work would begin and I hit the streets for some shopping!

As time for dinner was getting closer, I headed back to the hotel. I got a few text messages from Dan saying that he had just landed and would just meet me at the restaurant. He told me that it was in the Trump tower just a few blocks from our hotel and it was at a place called Sixteen. I got ready, called Jeremy to see how things were here in Utah and headed over to the hotel. As I was walking into the hotel, I was immediately hit with a feeling of being severely under dressed. I was in my power suit, all set for some big negotiations in this meeting, but was met by women in outfits embellished with sequins and more fur than I have ever seen.

I headed upstairs to the sixteenth floor and checked in with the hostess. I let her know that I was there to meet Mike or Dan. They asked for last names, which I couldn't remember and then she suddenly said, "Oh, are you with Careerbuilder??" as their faces lit up with recognition. I said yes and they told me that I was the first to arrive, so I could have a seat at the bar while they got our table ready. I would have killed for a drink at that point. The uncomfortable feeling that started when I walked in the front door had multiplied as I sat at the bar of this beautiful restaurant waiting for my boss and some guy I had never met before. But, it was a business meeting after all, so I opted for water and proceeded to wait.

In a few minutes, the hostess came to get me and let me know that the table was ready. She led me to a table placed by the window with the most amazing view. There were a couple of fabulous buildings just outside and the city scene in the background. It was honestly somewhat breathtaking. I sat down and in an attempt to not look so alone, I pulled out my phone and started texting Danyelle. I was actually making some smart remark about how ridiculous I felt when the hostess approached the table and pulled out the chair across from me. I assumed this meant that one of the guys had arrived so I turned around to see and instead of seeing my boss or the Careerbuilder rep, instead, I was looking square into the eyes of my amazing Jeremy!!

I'm fairly certain that my jaw dropped as my mind raced 100 miles an hour trying to figure out what exactly was going on. I remember that my first thought was "Am I dreaming this?" I tend to have pretty vivid dreams and have gotten pretty good at asking myself that question when things start to turn a bit unreal. However, lucky for me, it wasn't a dream this time. As realization set in, I liken it to the movie "The Sixth Sense" when you find out that the guy was dead all along and the movie flashes back to all of the scenes where you should have realized that was what was going on but didn't have a clue at the time! The shock was pretty apparent on my face, from what I'm told and I couldn't speak. Jeremy grabbed my hand and told me that he loved me more than anything in the world and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me! He got down on one knee, opened this beautiful little box, and asked me to marry him! Unfortunately, my body and vocal cords were still frozen and I just stared at him for a few moments. The look on his face changed to worry and then I quickly realized that I hadn't answered him! I said, "YES, of course YES!". He stood up and hugged me and the crowd went wild :)

It was such a surreal moment. He gave me the most amazing diamond (in a solitaire so that I could pick out the setting I loved) and the next few hours are a blur of elation and overwhelming happiness. We laughed about the involvement of everyone in my office for this elaborate plan and about how perfectly executed it had been. Jeremy loves to prank me and although I typically don't admit it to him, I usually have some inclination when something is going on. I honestly can't remember a time where I didn't at least have the thought cross my mind of what was really happening.....other than this one!

The setting was perfect! The restaurant showered us with amazing champagne, complimentary desserts and delicacies, and everyone seemed completely excited for us. Several couples who were dining in the restaurant approached us to offer their congratulations and to pat Jeremy on the back for a job well done. They told us how they had been married for 40 and 50 years and gave us their advice and well wishes on a life full of the same.

Wow - I could seriously go on and on and on with the intricate details of the story. And honestly, it just doesn't get old to me. I could tell it over and over again! But, I suppose I have to stop somewhere. It was perfect. Jeremy did an amazing job and made this the most incredible experience in the world for me. I am so excited to be marrying him. We have been through so much in 7 years - so many ups and downs. I am SO happy to have worked through it all and to be here today. I could never have imagined how excited I would be about all of this. I'm a complete and utter "girly girl" about all of it and the funny thing is - I don't even care! It's fabulous and I want to enjoy every single second of it!

This was after our dinner and we got back to the room. Unfortunately we didn't get to get pics in the restaurant so this was as soon after as we could!

We spent the next day seeing the city, shopping, and eating amazing food. We had such a great time! I absolutely LOVE Chicago!

He made this the most incredible, unforgettable weekend of my life!

"Jessica" moment

2009-01-13T15:34:00.001-08:00

I haven't been taking many pictures lately, but I suppose your blog is supposed to be a journal of sorts, so I figured I should record this little moment to remember down the road. Maybe someday when I decide to write a book! So here was Wednesday morning.....

Leaving for work bright and early, I was backing out of the driveway and realized that the responsible thing to do would be to scrape my passenger side window so that I didn't get blind-sided turning a corner. I jumped out, scraped the window, and went to get back in the car. I pulled the handle to the driver side.....locked! Seriously?!? I had hit the button next to the lock to reset the seat to my setting when I got in and apparently bumped the lock just enough in the process that it wouldn't open. So, there I am, car running, purse in car (phone in purse), 7:30 a.m. and 19 degrees! Oh, and p.s. I have no house phone.

So, after a little thought, I decided that the best plan would be to get on the computer, instant message Cathy and ask her to call AAA for me to get a locksmith out to get me in my car. I turn on the computer and realize that Jeremy changed the password to login over the weekend (parental controls) and he forgot to tell me what it was! So, I walked next door and asked the neighbor to use their phone. I struggled to remember Jeremy's phone number and finally came up with it. I called and called, knowing that he wouldn't answer because he didn't recognize the number. I was getting irritated and leaving frustrated messages, and feeling incredibly stupid as I stood in my neighbor's kitchen dialing and dialing while they all sat there in their pajamas watching me.

I finally remembered Cathy's number and called her to the rescue. Thank heavens she is so good to me!! She called my mom, got my AAA number, called them, and got someone out to help me. 2 hours late to work and yet another use of that trusty card and I was in my car! So many lessons to be learned here....

The kicker......I got in my purse and grabbed my phone and had a TON of missed calls and messages - I went to listen to the first one and vaguely recognized the voice. Hmmmm, because it was me!! I wasn't calling Jeremy all of that time - I was calling myself! Our numbers are only a few digits different and I guessed the wrong one :(

The bigger kicker.......when I finally talked to Jeremy, his response was "Honey, why didn't you just use your spare key that's in the drawer by the stove?"

sigh........life can be so tough sometimes!

Self Reflection

2009-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

I like to read books that make me do some reflection and I actually quite enjoy a good self-help book every now and then. This is not what I was after when I picked up my most recent new read - I was going for something a little more light-hearted and fun. Well, turns out that the first step is admitting you have a problem, so here goes......

My name is Jessica and I am a shopaholic!
Ok, there I said it.

In preparation for the movie coming out next month, I decided to read Confessions of a Shopaholic and it really is a fun, cute book. I find myself thinking that Becky (the shopaholic) is a bit crazy actually some of the time. But I spend the rest of the time actually realizing that our logic is insanely similar. It's a bit scary to be honest, but true.

I made the connection when I was standing in the Mac store on Sunday looking for a new armband for my ipod (mine got stolen when my car got broken into recently) and I ended up walking out with a new ipod shuffle. Apparently my nano and iphone weren't sufficient but because I am going to be a champion marathon runner, it makes much more sense that I have a shuffle that can easily clip on my shirt. And after all, I am saving the money from the armband this way. Quite logical I think! I'm sure that Becky would too.......

Busy Holidays!!!

2008-12-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

It seems like as you get older, sometimes Christmas and things that were always so magical lose a little bit of their flare, but then there are times when that magic is renewed.....this was one of those years for me!

We were able to have the girls from Christmas Eve until Sunday night this year which was totally amazing and non-stop fun for us! I had bought everyone matching nerdy Christmas pj bottoms, which I didn't think that Jeremy would be too excited about, but I busted them out Christmas Eve and once the girls started encouraging, he was all into the spirit. Veronica even talked him into putting on a matching green shirt to be festive (which was also bordering on being a belly shirt and made it even better!)

The girls loved everything and we had a blast opening gifts and listening to Christmas tunes....

Kaylee's favorite present was her slot car racetrack. She played with it every chance she had - and I think Jeremy enjoyed it quite a bit himself.

While Veronica just couldn't wait to download her favorite new tunes.......
We watched some great movies, played games, shopped, and just had a chance to spend a lot of time hanging out with each other - it was so nice! We also did a lot of great sledding over the course of the weekend! I think we went out at least 4 times, mostly to Sugarhouse Park, but we also hit the tubing park in Park City which was SO much fun!

Sunday, we headed up to Malad to see my family and exchange gifts and have a delicious turkey dinner. It was honestly the absolutely perfect weekend!! Couldn't have asked for a better Christmas break :)

My new goal

2008-12-08T18:48:00.001-08:00

Well, they always say that you do better with keeping your goals and following through if you make yourself accountable.....so, here goes!

I've officially started my training for a 1/2 marathon! I started talking about it in the spring with my friend Kristy. She has run many before and I was really excited about the idea of doing it, but unfortunately - Kristy suffered a knee injury and training didn't really start. Well, my friend Monica has recently started training and she is claiming that it is totally changing her life! I thought about it over the weekend and tried to decide if I could really go through with it and I've decided that I can. And - of course, I can never do anything without going all out, so I'm posting it on my dang blog!

I ran my first 3 miles tonight and it felt fantastic. In 10 weeks, I will be in Austin, Texas running 13.2 miles with Monica!

So - to those of you that I've proven to be a flake - challenge me on it. If you want to be nice and just encourage me - go for it.....either way - make me answer to this!! :)

Here's my training schedule:

Here goes nothin.......

So much to be thankful for!!

2008-12-02T09:06:00.001-08:00

I got to spend Thanksgiving this year at my mom's with my amazing family! It's always so nice to have a little time to really hang out with them and it helps when you get to eat lots of yummy food too!
I have so so much to be thankful for and my family is definately at the top of that list! I love you guys so much!! And it makes me so incredibly happy to see my mom happy and healthy :)

After dinner on Thursday, it was time for me to have some bonding time with my adorable little niece. Harmony agreed to let me take her for a few days, so I stole her and took her home! She is honestly the easiest baby in the entire world! She wakes up happy, never cries, laughs a ton, and is the cutest little girl ever! We had so much fun together......thanks Nick and Harm for letting me steal her!

I had my first experience with build-a-bear with her. I decided that she needed to have something to take home and remember her weekend with Aunt Jess, so we went. I wasn't sure at a year and 1/2 if she would really be into the whole process or not, but I figured we'd give it a shot. She was actually really involved and extremely opinionated about the whole thing. She knew exactly what she wanted and was sure to let me know - the girl moose would NOT be wearing the cute Santa tinkerbell dress, she would wear the t-shirt....end of story! How could you possibly argue with that face though??And we had to get two of course. My original thought was that one would go home to big brother, but she really loved the boy more than the girl, so I guess it's theirs to battle out!! Miss you already little Kyn......

2008-11-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well, after months of waiting - twilight night had finally arrived!! Of course me and the girls made a huge plan for the evening's events, starting with dinner and drinks and then heading to the show. We had about 15 of us for dinner and most for the movie. I think that we were worse than a group of teenage girls, but we were so excited we couldn't contain ourselves!

It seems that there were mixed reviews about the movie from most of the people I know. I think that most were pretty happy with it - I loved it. A movie can never quite meet the expectation of a book.....especially as good as the twilight series! But I ended up falling in love with Edward and loving the whole thing! Can't wait until #2! In fact, I think it might be time to re-read them so that I can have the experience all over again!

Me, Cath and Tenn posing in front of the screen.

It seems we can never behave ourselves no matter where we are! :)

Cath and Sharyl

Cath, Kristi and our new BFF Cheri!

Round 2:

Of course I had to take Veronica to the movie....she was so excited and it was her that made me start reading the books in the first place. She waited up for me Friday night to get home to tell her all about it and was beside herself all day Saturday waiting for our 7:00 show. It's a much different experience to go with an actual 16 year old - in fact, I think she made me like the movie even more because she was so into it!

Veronica is a big time movie talker. She is absolutely incapable of watching ANY movie without asking 100 questions, most of which are along the lines of "why did he do that?" "what's she going to do next?"....questions that most of the time no one can answer because no one has seen the movie, nor can anyone read minds, but she asks anyway! :) This time, I thought that because she had read the books that we might escape this, but no - she still asked. It's quite endearing actually, but I'm not sure that the people sitting around us always think so!

We had to capture a moment together before the big show!

Veronica's 16th

2008-10-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jeez - seriously - 16?? I can't even believe it!!! Jeremy's little "baby girl" is growing up! We had a fun little celebration for her last weekend. Veronica's music is her lifeline, so she loves anything ipod or music related. She was in love with her new ipod touch and didn't put it down from the second she got it! Unfortunately (as parenting goes) we learned the hard way last year with her iphone that teenager + unlimited text does not equal focused schoolwork! So, this was a better alternative for the time being :)

I guess that it's pretty typical to share some of your favorite things about someone on their birthday - as you celebrate who they are, so here are some of my favorite things about Veronica:

She is so appreciative of everything - no matter how much we may spoil her, she is one of the funnest people to give a gift to or to do something for....she is always so excited and thankful for everything.

She is hilarious! One of her favorite pasttimes is to come up with elaborate pranks and stories to get people to believe just for the heck of it - she is pretty ingenious too - between her and Jeremy, it keeps a person on their toes all of the time!

Veronica believes everything! Which is one of the reasons that we all tend to joke around so much - she's almost worse than me I think when it comes to being gullible, but she takes a joke almost as well as she dishes one out.

She's incredibly beautiful and she doesn't flaunt it. She's confident, but also extremely humble and down to earth - my hope is that she will always stay this way.

She's very protective.....even with me (and I think it's supposed to be more the other way around). It's actually pretty cute - she isn't the toughest thing physically, but she doesn't put up with the idea of anyone being mean to, talking about, or even looking at someone that she loves the wrong way! She really watches out for her little sisters and even her dad and me....it's very sweet.

She's so in tune with everything around her....as a 16 year old, I don't remember understanding the world half as well as she already does. She's incredibly sensitive to everyone and everything around her all the time.
For some crazy reason - she thinks I'm pretty amazing! I don't know how I managed to have such a great little person think so much of me - but she manages to make me feel pretty great. Which of course - anyone would love!

I could go on and on with all of the things that I love about her....she's amazing! But, I suppose I have to stop at some point. Anyway - I feel lucky to have such an incredible kid in my life!! :) So Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at Cathy and Drew's Halloween party again this year! As always, it's so great to get together with our friends and it makes it twice as fun if we get to dress up :)

Cath performed some stunning renditions of the classics on

Rock Band.... I jumped in a time or two,

but we all know that musical ability is not present within me

ANYWHERE, unfortunately :(

And one of my favorite pics..... It's always so much fun.....can't wait til next year!

New Birthday pics

2008-10-12T11:07:00.001-07:00

My sis sent me some more cute pics of the birthday party, so I thought I would add.....

Xander's Third!

2008-10-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, my little baby nephew is Three!! I hosted -what I hope to become an annual event - Xander's birthday party on Sunday, the 28th. We had a Star Wars themed birthday party because it's been his recent obsession and I must admit - the whole day was a hit!

I'll disclaim now though that none of the pictures are too great...I'm hoping that Harm will send some fun ones and I can post an update (hint hint sis :)

I rented one of those giant blow up bounce houses and the kids went nuts. Poor little guy was so incredibly tired, without a nap, but he just couldn't make himself stop playing! We got the run and somersault down perfect and I think we bounced down the slide about 500 times!

All of my wondeful cousins that live close by came over and brought their kids too. We barbecued some ribs and ate some delicious food and had a great time!

I tend to be really apprehensive to have people come over and things like this typically give me anxiety that is over the top, but this may have actually served as the ice breaker for future get togethers!Thanks to Cathy - I was all set up with recipes, serving dishes, and tables....such a livesaver she is! As I was frantically running around the house that morning trying to get everything ready and checking things off my list - up pulls Cathy, delivering the goods with an extra coffee in hand for me....moments like that - I'm so GLAD to have a buddy like her! :)Then my little cousin Ryder convinced Jeremy that he needed to show us his "huge copter fly", so he caved - of course. We all ran up to a park nearby for a little demo. Sean and Danny have tried to get into flying in the past, but it tends to be a bit more challenging that one might think, so needless to say, everyone was pretty impressed with the whole thing. And.....it gave Jeremy a chance to finally do something with the whole setup - it looks nice, but tends to just sit in the computer room about 363 days out of the year!

I loved how intrigued Cathy was with the workings of the little guy in this pic.....pretty funny!

Now I have about 8 months to plan Kynlee's 2nd!!! :)

Big Cottonwood Sunday

2008-09-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon Kaylee, Jeremy, and I decided to head up Big Cottonwood canyon for a little hike and to go to Snowbird to check out Oktoberfest. We always do the little hike to Cecret Lake but we wanted something different and a little more challenging, so we found a hike to Lake Catherine from Alta. It was a nice little hike and the temperature was perfect!

I think that Kaylee may have been a little disappointed when we finally got to the "lake" and it was actually a view of a lake, not so much a lake that she could catch tadpoles and play in - but nonetheless, it was a gorgeous view and a nice little workout!

Then we hit up Oktoberfest at Snowbird for some yummy food and a little trip down the zipline!

Dew Tour

2008-09-18T20:16:00.001-07:00

So Jeremy and I try really hard to expose the girls to a lot of different types of entertainment and lots of activities. Last weekend, we got to take them down to the AST Dew Tour to watch some BMX, skateboarding and motocross events. This is right up Kaylee's alley, so she was really excited to go....Veronica would rather go to the mall or catch a show, but she usually is pretty good about coming along for the ride. However, once she got there and saw the 100's of swarming 16 year old boys on the streets of downtown - it was difficult to pull her away!!

Our favorite was the skateboarding finals. For everyone who really knows me, it should come as no surprise that I think that little Ryan Sheckler is adorable and have had what I call an "illegal crush" on the little 18 year old since V and I saw his show on MTV last year. So - up in the seats of the stadium, we were a little fan club!

Come on.....you can't say he's not totally cute!! I'm not sure that Jeremy finds the whole thing entirely settling, but Veronica loves having a buddy to check out the boys with and it makes me still feel young! Hey - yet another perk of being a "stepmom"....I can get away with stuff like that!!!

Labor Day weekend

2008-09-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

We had round 2 at the East Canyon yurts over Labor Day weekend. The crew all went up on Saturday, but we joined them Sunday morning. We had a few nice hours to play in the sun when we got there....the boys played some horseshoes, while the girls read magazines and chatted and the kids braved the cold water to play around.

Well, the girls and Brent read magazines

When we got rained out, we headed inside for some delicious barbecue! The kids were having a ball playing on the bunk beds, playing games and watching Pirates of the Carribean.

Kaylee was really disappointed that we weren't planning to stay the night up there. She had conspired with everyone to try to convince us to please sleep in Drew and Cathy's yurt. She told everyone that she had packed all her stuff to stay the night. When I heard this, I was a bit confused because I watched her get in the car and knew what she packed. Finally, we all heard from the kids what exactly it was that she had packed to sleep with - not pj's, not blankets or pillows, but her little floatie air matress that she played in the water on.......

She cracks me up!

Me and My Girls

2008-08-26T16:38:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Jeremy had to work late on a Friday, so I went and picked up the girls and we had a little girls date night. We went and had dinner and then went to the "Breaking Dawn" book release party at King's English. Kaylee wanted to get dressed up, so we curled her hair and she transformed one of my shirts into a dress.

I had to put my foot down at her wearing a pair of my heels out.....she LOVES to wear them around the house and has happily grown into my size, but I figured I would probably look like a pretty bad mom if I had her clomping around in heels in public at age 9!

We decided to take a few pics before we left....a few turned into a lot because Veronica and I

are both chronically unphotogenic, so we tend to take about 100 pics at a time

before we settle on one that is acceptable.

Kaylee got a little bored with the whole process, as you can see........
I love, love my girls! They make me SO happy!

Jack

2008-08-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been my SUPER busy time at work for the last month or so - It's the crazy beginning of Fall season for Contourwear and we're in the process of getting new owners at Remedy, so needless to say - there have been some pretty long nights lately! So, I was ecstatic to have the chance to unbury myself for a night and head out to see my favorite favorite singer, Jack Johnson! Cath and I decided to get tickets to Jack a few weeks back and it was such a great time! He's one of those really great performers that actually SOUNDS like his CD, which is so nice...I hate when you get to a concert and are like "who are these guys??" because it sounds completely different! So - we got to hang out, have a big fattening plate of nachos, a beer (which I fed to the grass more than once on accident) and sit listening to my favorite tunes!

I love having a buddy that I can just sit on a blanket in a field with and have the time of our lives...entertaining ourselves!

Weekend with my kiddos

2008-08-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to post about the highlights of the last few months and one of my favorite weekends so far has to be when I got to have my niece and nephew come stay with Aunt Jess for a couple of days! We had so much fun! They are both getting such cute personalities and remind me so much of the stories I hear about me and Nick when we were little. Xander goes 100 miles an hour all the time and is so stinkin smart! He runs around "c'mon Jess, c'mon Jess" getting into everything he can find, while Kynlee follows behind, trying to get a piece of the action. He loves his little sis and gives her tons of loves when she wakes up from naps "hi baby", kiss kiss, then two seconds later, WHACK....and down she goes! They are a riot!

We spent the majority of our Saturday playing in the pool and with the water guns and bubbles in the backyard.
Kaylee is the BEST little babysitter and had so much fun playing with them. We took lots of walks around Sugarhouse Park and Kaylee and Xander watched their fair share of Sponge Bob!

And we had a chance to go and feed the birds at the park. Xander would wait until they were all gathered around and then would run after them full speed and laugh and laugh as they scattered a million different directions.

Ugh, I miss them so much already! It's time for another visit!!

East Canyon Boating

2008-08-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

We had SUCH a great time up at East Canyon with our friends a few weeks ago!! Cathy had this great idea to stay in a yurt for the weekend and do some boating and hanging out. Jeremy and Kaylee and I went and we all had such a blast!

Kaylee made some new friends and she, Savannah, Maya, and Sawyer stayed busy playing on the beach, in the water, and running around in the sun!

We all had a chance to practice some new skills on the wakeboard.....while Jeremy is perfecting his 180 jump, I am still working on getting more than a few inches of air!
And there was of course, the tubing......

And a picture is worth a thousand words here..... :)

I love that Kaylee and Cath have the EXACT same look on their face as I tumble!!
Then, we had to end the day with the tradition of smores.....

Oh, and Ms. Cornelius.....I dispute your accusation of this alleged story of Miss Camp 92. I hold strong that IT NEVER HAPPENED!!!

Lake Powell

2008-08-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite places on earth!!

Jeremy and I were lucky enough to go down the second week of July for a fabulous trip. Its been a few years since I've been there and I think that I managed to forget just how amazing it is!

It was the girls' first trip and they totally LOVED it! We can't keep Kaylee out of the water - she's our little fish, so this was heaven for her. She latched on to our friend's little girl, Lacie and I think they managed to go down the slide and jump off the back 1000 times!

Jer and I honed our wakeboarding skills and learned how to wake surf. The girls that were with us kept calling it the "old man's sport" because the boat doesn't go very fast and you don't get hurt when you fall.....interesting that Jeremy liked it so much :)

Even our little "I don't feel like it" Veronica gave wakeboarding a shot. She got up for a quick second but took about 10 tries. Her poor little arms were shot afterwards. So - she decided that tubing was her favorite sport instead.

All in all, it was the perfect vacation! I have vowed that I will never go that many years again without seeing my lake!

Didn't Last Long

2008-08-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know - it didn't last all that long....a few weeks have passed, but I got a few pictures together of some of the things that we have been busy doing, so we'll give it a shot! Not sure how pretty these first few will be while I figure it out, but bear with me....I'm sure I will learn!

The beginning

2008-07-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's finally time to take the plunge and do it!! I need to let go of myspace and join the adult world of blogging.....so ta da - here I am! I don't know who exactly will be reading about us or how often I'll actually keep it up, but it's my attempt at starting :)