Demo Derby

So I recognize that my last two posts are completely on a "white trash" level. No this isn't really me- but boy do I love a good Demolition Derby! I planned a trip to the Arizona State Fair to watch the demo derby with some of my closest friends and some people who I had never met before. It was so much fun! You really can't go wrong with a good derby and good company. Unfortunately my car didn't do so well. It was shoved (smashed) out of the ring at the beginning but I cheered for it just the same! Here are just a few pics from the night.

The Derby in Action!
Me, Eileen and Amy

The cars lining up

Ready to Race!

Jenny, Lisa, Jacob and Amy

Nascar Royalty!

So I normally don't get all dressed up for Halloween. In fact, it's probably one of my least favorite holidays- I remember as a child being scared by Stu Cornwall in a gorilla mask and falling down his stairs and I think that has tainted my liking for the holiday.
Anyways- it is a HUGE deal at work. People start planning their costumes way in advance- some all year long. I was really struggling coming up with something, but did want to join in the fun.

So...I was talking to John about this and he offered me his mullet and Nascar shirt. I decided to take him up on the offer because well- I needed a costume by the next day.
My original plan was to be "Nascar's #1 Fan", but when I tried to give myself a pouch belly I looked more pregnant. And so I then became Nascar's first "Princess". Royalty I'm sure.

So here's a few pics from the days events at work and of course my beautiful outfit fully equiped with a mullet.

You can't really tell but I "bejewled" the camo-ford hat I'm wearing! Lovely huh?

This is was my "team" for the relay

Playing the Candybar Game
Pumpkin Bowling

This was us recieving our prices after our team WON!!!

U2

So the band U2 was here in Phoenix last week. I really wanted to go and when I was given tickets I was so excited. The only catch was that I still had to work that night until 7:30. So I worked and during the day I tried to call some friends, but no one answered. After work I tried again and still couldn't find anyone to go with me- so I ended up my co-worker. Here are a few pics from the concert. It was amazing- though I have nothing to compare it to because it's my first concert, but I still thought it was great!

These pictures are totally out of order!

I Wish We All Could Be California Girls!

Last weekend I decided I needed to take a little get away! So my friends Amy and I decided to go to California. As the day got closer my mom decided she wanted to join us and so we drove to Cali and she flew in and met us. We started out the trip with a FULL day at Disneyland! I love this place- it really is the HAPPIEST place on earth! Well one... of the many! :) At first it was myself, Amy, Jeff and Jeff's roommate Matt. Then my mom flew in and Amy's mom was kind enough to pick her up from the airport and dropped her off at Disneyland. We had a blast- but boy was it crowded. I carried my camera around, but we didn't really take pictures till the end.....sorry! After Jeff and his roomie left Amy joined my mom and I and we played till we thought we would drop. It was so much FUN!
Then the next day Amy joined up with some of our friends at Six Flags and my mom and I hit the beach. It was nice to be out in the sunshine and enjoy the ocean. If I could I would probably live by the ocean. I love it!
Sunday we went to church and then drove back home. It was a wonderful trip and a well needed get away. Mom ended up staying till Wednesday then decided she had better get back to real life. It was so nice to have her here. I can't wait for her and some more fam to come visit at Thanksgiving!

Sorry the pictures are way out of order....but you get the idea.....

The water was soooo cold but after awhile your feet would go numb!

Can you tell the wind was blowing?

Beautiful view of the beach and the cliffs. I wish I lived in that house on top! What a view!

It must have been "Free Fish" day at the pier-People were catching them like crazy. They were pretty, but we heard they taste disgusting!

This is the 50's style Restaurant we ate at- it's right at the end of the Huntington Beach Pier. They had the tastiest strawberry milkshakes! YUM!

Halloween at Disneyland!

Amy, my Mom and Me! We took this right before we left the park! We were so tired!

Me and Mom- love those Minnie Ears!

In front of California Adventures! Mom had never been there so we started out with a few rides at that park first.

The only proof we have that Mom rode the Screamin' Roller Coaster at California Adventures!

2 Rays of Sunshine....

Last week I was blessed to become an Aunt again....TWICE! I really am one of the luckiest girls around! Both deliveries went well and the babies and moms are doing great! My mom however is exhausted- but so glad her little grandsons are here. These make number 9 and 10 for my parents. Number 11 will be here in January! Very exciting! I can't wait to go home and hold these little guys!

Here are some pics I stole from their blogs! :)

Baby Boy Keller-aka Kody Michael Keller

Proud Parents: Magen and Dan

Born Sunday September 13th

Weight: 7 lbs 10oz

Height: 20 1/2 inches long!

Magen and Kody! (Sorry Magen- it was the only pic I could steal-- but you look great! )

Baby Boy Buck- aka Bryton Jay Buck

Proud Parents: Camille and Jake

Born Tuesday September 15th

Weight: 7lbs 15oz

Height: 20 inches long!

Doesn't he look so precious? I see a little of brother Gavin and a little of sister Emma in him.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So I have realized that the older you become the more likely you are to purchase your own birthday gifts-days before the birthday ever arrives! This year I have had such mixed feelings about my birthday. Maybe because it will be the the first of many 29th birthdays that I expect to have or because I'm not exactly where I had hoped to be by this many years of life! Whatever the case I decided that I was going to really go big for my birthday and so I purchased myself a piano.

I love to play the piano. I play when I'm happy, I play when I'm sad, I play extra long and hard when I'm frustrated and I play for my own satisfaction. The piano is seriously the best type of "therapy" that I could ever ask for. Music has gotten me through so much. Right after I moved to Arizona I rented a piano, but when I ended up moving again there wasn't a place for it and so I turned it back in. I have really missed it and have longed for it. A friend of mine had one at his house that I could use, but it wasn't the same as having one in my own home. Seriously my house feels more complete. Something about it touches my spirit like nothing else can.

And so, I am now the happy owner of a new piano. Happy Birthday to Me!

Run Baby Run!

So back in January my family had this great idea that we would run the Top of Utah 1/2 marathon again this year....but my mom, brother and sister-in-law would join us! Magen, Cami and I ran it last year and loved it! So we were really looking forward to 3 more people joining us! Plus my mom and Ben had a little wager on it so that added to the fun.
And so the training began. We were all doing really until.....about March when Magen and Cami realized they had caught the pregnancy bug (YEAH!) and would both be due about the time of the race. Then in June, my sister in law Heidi also caught the pregnancy bug (YEAH again!) and she ended up having to stop training as well. So that left me, my mom and brother.
I trained and trained and felt great about it until the end of May when I caught pneumonia which lead to some other unfriendly things and was unable to train anymore. No problem- I made a deal and I was going to come through and so it was decided that spite my lack of training the two months before the race I was going to cross the finish line!
And that is exactly what we all did! It was a great day for the race! My family cheered us on all along with way with fun signs. We tried to encourage Ben to run ahead of us he kept saying "We started together, we will end together!". Next year however, it will be every man for himself! :)


Plus a few other of my family members ran with us. My Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Roy who are training for bigger and better marathons were there. They ran with us when I was camping in the Uintahs. Plus my Aunt Tina came from New Mexico and my Uncle Alan came from Payson. It was great to have so many family members there.
Here are a few pics that were taken from the grand event!

Dad and Koen showing one of the great signs!

The family with their fabulous signs! Makayla, Cami, Easton, Heidi, Magen and Dad!

Here we are almost to the highway! We were more than halfway at this point!

This was of us coming out of the canyon!



The finish line!

Do we look tired or what?

The whole family! Amy, Jennifer, Ben, Roy, Alan, Tina, Mom and Me!

Uintahs 09

I was lucky enough to make it home for part of the famous annual family trip to the Uintahs! I was afraid I was going to miss it because it was later in the year (mom was still in school in July) and I was already scheduled to head to Utah at the end of the month for the great 1/2 marathon. So when an opportunity came up to go and JUMPED right at it!
We hiked, fished, canoed, played games, played with the nephews and my little niece, watch some moose, mom and I ran down the hill to practice for the big race, and we played in the SNOW! Yes that's right....the snow! It was so beautiful but very unusual! Here are a few pics from the grand adventure!

Two of the cutest kids ever!

I love, love, love to do archery- but let's face it, I'm not very good! My little cousin was awesome and he's only 12!




Beautiful lake that we hiked to.

Mom and I on top of the mountain! Looking Good!

The beautiful fish that we caught! They were so delicious!

Canoeing! You can never go wrong in a canoe! It actually started to rain on us pretty hard, but we stayed out just the same. We caught all those fish pictured above!

No your eyes aren't playing a joke on you. It's snowing and YES I look very very cold!!!


This is Dad and Uncle Roy trying to put the canoe on the trailer in the middle of the storm! It was nuts! I couldn't believe it SNOWED in August!

YSA Conference in Cali!

This past weekend my friend Amy invited myself and Jamie to go to California with her to attend a statewide Young Single Adult Conference in Newport Beach. I love, love, love California and had I not purchased a home in AZ...I probably would seriously consider moving to Cali. The weather was perfect, the company fabulous and the conference was really good. We drove over Friday night (horrible weather on the drive there) plus I forgot my clothes- they were handing in my closet! Doh! So we made a quick stop at the Target in Indio. Interesting little town. The wind was blowing like CRAZY when we drove through Palm Springs and then other than a few accidental detours we made it to Cali. We stayed with Amy's parents who were so awesome and very welcoming. Her dad loves to talk and crack jokes- they were pretty awesome.

The conference was for two days in NewPort right next to the temple. We had several different little workshops, lots of good food, service projects, a dance and of course speed dating! So funny! Ask me if you really want to know how that went! Sunday was Church with the same group and then a fireside with Elder and Sister L Tom Perry.

It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of really great people. We were also really sad to leave. Jamie and I drove back Sunday night and we were exhausted! I can't wait to go back and do the Disneyland thing, beach and all those other adventures that we didn't have time for.

Here's a few (very few) pics from the trip.

Seriously- do I look like I have sextuplets?

I am over a lot of departments at work- one being transportation. I realized that the infant seats in our vans are completely out dated and not up to code. So I have been car seat shopping. I finally found the one that fits our needs best and called Walmart to make sure they had it in stock. Amazingly the lady was helpful and they did. I needed 6 car seats. They are all pink and all the same type. Halfway through the conversation the women on the phone says- You sound awfully young to have 6 kids. I was like..."what?"...then she continues to say, I don't remember seeing you on the news about having sextuplets?....HUH?....I finally realized she thinks she these car seats are all for me! No way!

Well, it gets better. I had my co-worker Chris go with me to pick them up because it's hard to maneuver two carts full of car seats. We load them up and start heading for the check stand. Three separate people stopped and asked which one of us had the sextuplets! Seriously! Chris was flattered 'cause she's a Grandma and I was thinking that maybe I need to hit the gym a little more. I told one lady that I didn't have any children and she said "Oh honey we are all in denial!". Um...wow....really cause I don't have kids!

At the check stand I got it again! I wanted to respond "Do I look like I am expecting 6 babies?". Then as we went out to the car another women stopped me at the car to inquire how old my babies where and if I had other children as well! Nuts!

It made me laugh. Who knew that carrying around 6 infant seats would create such attention!

A little bit of everything!

So I wish I was better at this blogging business. I use to be....I don't know what happened! So once again you get a brief description of what I have been up to.

WICKED! Need I say more?!? I absolutely love this musical. I first saw it in LA for my birthday a year or so ago and I loved it then. I can sing all the songs (I'm sure I sound just like Elfaba!) and I love the story. So when it came here I tried to buy tickets but they were way out of my price range. Luckily someone asked me to go- I was so excited!! I liked some of the characters in LA a little better but enjoyed it just the same. The funniest part was when Elfaba and Galinda started laughing and went totally out of character. It was great! Thank you John for inviting me to go!

Camping! I love to go camping. It's a little more challenging to do in Arizona because you have to drive so far to 1) get out of the heat 2) get past the cactus 3) find water to fish in. We went up to Bear Canyon Lake a couple of weeks ago and the weather was perfect! My friend Amy and I ended up sleeping out under the stars and they were so beautiful. I'm not sure when I will make it back up there because the summer gets a little crazy but I am looking forward to camping in the Uintahs with the family in a couple of weeks! Yeah!

Water Parks at Night! I love, love, love water slides. I don't know why, but I do. A group of friends went last weekend and it was so much fun! The were only open from 7pm-11pm but it was fabulous to be outside without having to slather up on sunscreen. Though it was still 105 degrees. There were a few slides that I refused to go on because I'm a chicken and there was a new one that I tried where I had a wardrobe malfunction take place (yeah...that was super embarrassing) that I won't ever try again. Overall- I'm excited to go back!

Floating the Salt River! I have heard some horror stories about this and wasn't sure if I was going to go, but I am so glad that I did- FUN! Our ward was suppose to go boating, but it was cancelled at the last minute and so several people from the ward- including the bishopric- decided to float the river. We only rode halfway down because of time constraints (it takes like 5 hours to do the whole thing) and then we had lunch at the end. All those stories I had heard must of been false because I didn't see or experience any of it. I definitely want to do this again!

Stupid Wasp!!! So as I was floating down the river I got stung by a wasp or yellow jacket or some other dirty bug right on my collar bone. I'm not wimpy really, but this hurt. Well all I had was the dirty river water to put on it and some ice that some drunks gave me! (They were really nice!) Apparently you can get a pretty serious infection from stings- who knew? Come Sunday my neck was all swollen and red and I looked like I had a tumor. Attractive eh? So I called my mom who told me to get to a doctor ASAP! I phoned my favorite Dr. Tom and he checked it out for me. Yep definitely an infection and it was spreading fast! By the time I went to bed that night I had swollen and was red clear down to my belly button. Not cool! Luckily the drugs are working and I will definitely finish them up. Stupid Wasp!!!

PARTY! So since I've lived in Arizona I have never had people over to my house- any of my places of residence! Some for obvious reasons. I decided to invite a few friends over for game night on Sunday (same day as the tumor on my neck!). I was expecting maybe 10 people to show up- especially since I still don't know too many people in the ward and my house isn't that big. Well, at one point there were over 35 "friends" that came! I was impressed that my little house could hold that many! I had a good time and everyone there seemed to- or at least no one said anything. It was a nice confidence builder and now I know that I can throw parties and they won't be a flop!

Catch up!

So I haven't purposefully taken a hiatus from my blog, but it seems to have happen....so to just catch you all up and what I have (or haven't been doing lately) here's a list in no particular order:

Fighting with the Title Company because they didn't record my house or pay anyone but themselves and the seller...this is still an on going issue (Sigh....)


Traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for a training at Boys Town. I can officially say I'm nationally certified to teach parents how to be parents. Hopefully someday I can use this knowledge on my own children. While there I saw several huge thunderstorms, tornado warnings and lots of corn! :) Sorry- didn't take the camera.


Right before heading to Nebraska-(2 days to be exact) started feeling sick. Saw a Doc in Nebraska and discovered that I have somehow caught pneumonia-ugh! Do not like that fact that when I walk up the stairs in my house I have to stop on the landing to catch my breath. And that's not even carrying anything! Starting to feel somewhat better, but still have an inhaler just in case. It stinks!


Training for another 1/2 marathon. Pneumonia really got in the way of this, but hopefully I can get back at it. Would really like to beat my time from last year- though I think my mom is going to kick my trash! Go Mom!!


Went to Utah for a very short/very busy trip. While there I attended a family reunion, camped, hiked 10 miles, attended my 10 year class reunion, cooked for wedding, visited family and friends, celebrated Father Day and my sisters birthday, watch a T-ball game (so funny!) heard good news from bro and sister-in-law, enjoyed beautiful weather, took a break from my crazy life in AZ and cried when I had to come back to Arizona! (Again- didn't take any pictures. I really wish I was better at that!)

Decided to start a Black Widow and Cricket hatchery around my yard. Seems to be going very well- they are multiplying at a very rapid pace. Met a nice kid named Ross who works for some bug company in the neighborhood who kindly knocked down all the webs, killed the spiders, sprayed the crickets (which means I keep finding them dead everywhere) and will return next month to do it again. I believe we will be the best of friends by the time all treatment is done. Black Widow and Cricket hatchery is not my ideal side job! I'm grateful for their demise!

Bought my first major appliance for my house! (Against my will) The house came with a really old refrigerator that I was more than happy to use for a really really long time. When my parents were here it started to give us some problems, but my dad worked on it and got it back up and running. Well one Sunday after church I walked into my kitchen and stepped into a huge puddle..the fridge was cooling (really can I call it that) at a whopping 35 degrees. Pretty much it defrosted itself all over my floor. I was not very happy and though I tried to revive it- it wasn't happening so I bought a new fridge. Argh! The joys of being a homeowner I suppose.

So that pretty much sums it up for now.

The Great House Painting!

I know it has taken me awhile to post some pics but this last week was a little crazy and I needed to put back on all the light and plug plates. I am so grateful for my family and their willingness to spend their entire vacation in the blazing heat helping me paint my house. I was very touched by how much they wanted to help. They worked so hard and did a wonderful job. They helped make this home more mine.

We did takea few breaks from painting to go to the pool, (My only picture of the pool was of mom throwing a bee out of the water-she made me promise not to post it!) a little shopping and out to eat. It was so great having them here and like always I was really sad when they left. The house was so quiet. I hope you all will come back soon!

Sorry about the picture overload! Believe it or not I didn't post quite a few of them!

We weren't able to paint the bedrooms upstairs but I wanted to post a picture of the bedset that I made. My family helped me quilt the quilt after I pieced it together and then I made the pillows and such. I think it turned out nice and works well with the room. I will be excited to get it painted though!

The Work in Progress

We painted pretty much the entire house including the ceilings! Dad did all the ceilings and I'm sure that his arms were ready to fall off. It was amazing to see the difference in the color. I'm glad that I went with a white- I think it looks so much better!

This is me freaking out about being so high on the later. I thought that I could help paint the edge at the top of the stairwell, BUT I am totally afraid of heights and this was high! I couldn't even let go of the wall. I'm a whimp I admit it! Luckily Dad was willing to climb back up and work on it.

Here is Dad doing the latter thing. He's much better at it then me. I'm sure Mom's arms wanted to fall off as well since she got to hold the paint above her head most of this time.

This is where I am more comfortable! I painted all the edges throughout the upstairs-only in spots I could use a normal size latter or a step stool! :)

Dad working on the trim in the bathroom.

Alayna- the ever faithful baseboard painter! Who knows how many she painted- she was great!

John showing his true feelings about painting! He was kind enough to come over on Saturday and help us finish up the kitchen and he let me borrow all his painting stuff so I didn't have to buy new!

Here's mom painting in the bathroom! Her and dad made record time in this room.

The crew taking a break and fighting over a paint-tape ball that John threw at Makayla!

John and I trying to move the furniture back. It seemed a lot heavier than when we carried it up the stairs in the first place.

The Finished Product!

My HUGE entertainment center and TV! :) I love the picture on the wall behind it though. You can't really tell but it's tulips- my favorite flowers and so most my decor revolves around the colors.

The kitchen! I love, love love my kitchen and the color!

The kitchen again! It's still not really decorated, but I am making progress!

The bathroom! I found the hooks at Ross and absolutely love them!

Notice no blue toilet seat! It was the first thing to go!

The family room! Notice the fan- it's no longer blue! We changed the light fixtures and I bought new blades, but Dad volunteered to spray paint the old ones for me and they look fabulous! It's like a whole new fan! James and Sylvia donated their furniture to me. Eventaully I will recover the blue chair but for now I am grateful for furniture!