More of Lately...

I'm always playing catch up! Some fun things I've been able to do in the past few months....



My dad and I went to the Hurricane car show last month. It's something he always likes to do every year. We finally decided to go at the last minute and just barely made it in time to see a few cars before they started to roll out. There were some classics!

I loved this cars stainless steel finish, it was amazing!





So Vintage!

Sometimes I get the coolest pictures of my nephews! I just wish I could see them more often! I would love to hang out with these little guys and get to know them better! How cute is Jake? I can't wait to play with them a little bit this summer!

These pictures were taken in May. I seriously was so bugged it was still snowing and bad weather! Just amazed that summer can be so harsh sometimes! This is a scene in May that I would expect in Alaska, or the north pole or something....not Utah!

So Brandt and I took his dog Callie to the dog park in Millcreek a few weeks ago! She LOVES her walks and especially when we have to go in the car to get to someplace special. She loves the dog park in Millcreek! We wore her out! She was exhausted when we got in the car to go home! She passed out in the back seat and pretty much slept the whole way home! It was so cute!

Mia hates having her picture taken! It's the funniest thing! As soon as the pictures start snapping, she runs to her crate in the back room! I don't know if it's the sound of the shutter in the camera that bugs her or if it's just being weirded out that we're holding something out towards her...she sketches and I think it's so funny!

We took care of Ryan and Michelles dogs (Girdy & Daisy) for a week while they spent time in Salt Lake for Davids graduation. They are fun little girls!  They really love each other! It's so cute!

They got along well with Mia, but she's so tiny compared to them, and Daisy is definitely the Alpha-Female with Mia, sometimes they push her around a little too much. She couldn't play with her toys without Girdy and Daisy both bulldozing her to not let her play. Other than that, they had a good time together. I think after a week, Mia and Girdy started to really get along and play cute! Girdy wanted to play tug-a-war with Mia and she would actually let Mia win sometimes...so funny!

Daisy is definitely the Alpha-Female, but so full of love! She's very protective!

Girdy is one of the most sensitive souls I've ever known. You can't look at her wrong without hurting her feelings. Even when one of the other dogs got in trouble for something, Girdy would feel so hurt, she needed loves better in order to go on. She's so loving also! They're both really good dogs!

Daisy LOVED the water! Everytime we'd pull out the hose to water the plants or pool, she went nuts! So funny!!! Girdy and Mia would run to the other side of the house with their tails between their legs! haha!

We celebrated my dads 54th birthday on June 23rd! We spent the day out in the yard pulling weeds and trying to fix the pool.... he went to Lowe's and bought plants and came back and planted them. It was hot and almost miserable! Definitely opposite than the year we spent his 50th birthday at Disneyland! Maybe next year we can make up for this year! But it was good...we went to his favorite hamburger place, Marv's, that night and then topped it off with seeing the Green Lantern in 3D! It was fun! This was his birthday ice cream cake! It was yummy! :)

Brandt and I took a drive up in Bountiful called Skyline Drive or something like that. Supposed to be a really cool 4x4 trail for Cruisers and stuff. It was really beautiful!!! We were a little disappointed though because the trails we wanted to go up were totally "CLOSED FOR THE WINTER" because there were still large snow drifts crossing the trails that hadn't melted yet. JEEZ LOUIZE!!!!! End of June and we're talking about it still being WINTER?? Seriously????

The views were amazing!

Brandt loved getting his cruiser dirty! So proud!!!!

We found this dirt bowl spot that was kinda clear for 4 wheelers to ride around a little bit... There were a bunch trying to make their way up this super steep trail. A few made it up about half way but then realized it would be tougher than they thought to get down. We just sat and watched, wondering what would happen. We could see some people really struggling! A couple guys made it down ok, but we saw that the ones that tried to fight the gravity were the ones that had problems, and the guys that went with it without too much resistance made it down ok. This one guy we could see was really fighting the hill hard, his 4-wheeler started to get sideways a little bit and suddenly started to tip. It rolled over him, broke the back seat off and started rolling down the hill faster and faster...it was sad to see that big machine getting obliterated by this hill. It landed right side up and was still in throttle... it was still going slowly, someone started to head over to it to grab it to stop it, but it started to speed up and then went out of control....the guy running after it couldn't catch it and then it changed directions heading directly towards us, and Brandts Cruiser...I started screaming "BRANDT MOVE YOUR CAR RIGHT NOW!!!!!" and everything was happening too quickly - I thought his cruiser was toast! Instead of turning the car on and throwing it into gear and moving, he jumped out and ran towards the run-away 4-wheeler to try to stop it... This didn't look good! Someone or something was going to get hurt! Suddenly the 4-wheeler hit a little crack in the dirt and it stopped it fast...I just heard a big crunch of metal. Luckily that stopped it! I was glad no one got hurt! Poor guy that got ran over and obliterated his 4-wheeler! That's a lot of money down the drain! Oh well...the cost of some hobbies!

Fun times!!

Ahhh Summer ~ Welcome...Finally!

I love SUMMER!!!!!  Especially when I have been so deprived for EIGHT miserable snowy months! I really do love it!  A lot has happened since May.  I moved to St George temporarily.  I needed to change up a few things and was a little compelled to do so with circumstances outside my control, so how temporary this will be, we shall see!!  So, summer came suddenly as I moved down to the desert oasis of lovely southern Utah.  We jumped from 85 degree days to a whopping 105!  It was great!  My ideal temperature is about 90 so that was warm but felt sooo good compared to the long cold winter.  I've been able to be mobile with my job which has allowed me to relax a little and enjoy life.  It was such a drastic transition, so I'm getting used to the lack of stress in my life.  It's taken me a little more time than I thought it would to come out of my "negative nelly" stage.  I was operating my life under so much stress that I kinda forgot how to enjoy things and be grateful for what I have.  So...I am trying to be more aware of recognizing the things that I love and am so grateful for.  My Heavenly Father #1 for blessing me with the means to be able bodied enough to support myself and to be independent for as long as I have been, and know I can rely on myself to get things done.  Meaning if I lose my job, I know I can find another one.  If I lose my living place, I know I can find a new one.  If I lose things I love, it means I know I can learn from it, adapt, and keep moving forward and loving life and the blessing of all the things I have and have been given in my life.  I have to remind myself every day of that!  I hope the positivity of life and love will come back to me.  It's something I pray for daily!  #2 I am so thankful for my parents.  I love them so much and I'm so thankful they are so willing to help me for anything I need.  They're willing to drop everything to make sure I'm taken care of.  Even though I know they don't always have much to give, they're always willing to give whatever they need.

On a side note, Teniesha and I were watching Ever After this beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Loved a quote from the movie!!!

Darling, nothing is final 'til you're dead, and even then, I'm sure God negotiates. 

Gives me hope that if I try as hard as I can and do my best, not all is lost.

Well anyways, we had a lovely dinner at Clairices house!  She made the most AMAZING homemade fresh tomato and basil pizza from scratch!  AMAZING!  I need her recipe.  We had a grand time catching up, telling stories, and sharing favorite blogs!  My girlfriends are such beautiful talented girls.  I have to say I felt very inadequate among them.  I wonder how annoying I can be sometimes and I hope they forgive my imperfections.  #3, I'm grateful for all my friends!  They do inspire me and give me great examples of who I want to be more like. 

Clairice is so artistic and creative.  She loves creating the best tastes and the best visionaries from the coolest things.  She makes the best BROWNIES that have no fat!  She is so deep and has so many thought provoking topics to talk about that stir us all to think a little deeper about things.  It's awesome!  She also made the cutest labels for my homemade lotion business if I can ever get it off the ground ;)

Lisa is so even tempered, mild-mannered, and ZERO stress, she knows exactly how to show a different perspective to anyone with a decision to make, or dissolve any stress someone might have.  She is so calm in the face of fear even if she really is scared, she acts as though she is still confident and calm.  I love that about her and wish I could have some of that in me. 

Teniesha is the epitome of spunk and sassyness!  I love being around her....she's also very creative and has such a fun taste for decorating.  She has been one of my best girlfriends for 10 years! She is so full of energy and inspires me to be more into fitness!  I love her nutrition advise!!!!

Janet is so fun to be around.  I met her through Lisa, she's Lisa's cousin, and I haven't known her long, but we hit it off instantly.  She is so funny, and pretty and I can tell she's just a good hearted person all around....love hanging around her!!! 

I'm just glad to have the friends I do and they have been such a support structure for me and they have blessed my life in more ways than I can count.  I'm just feeling extremely grateful!

I am thankful for Brandt!  He's been my best friend for so long.  I love being around him, I love the quirkiness we have.  I love that we laugh at very subtle things.  We have a lot of little special things that we do between the two of us.  He takes a while to warm up and open up to people, and I think that balances me out a little, because I've always been too quick to be open with people.  He teaches me how to have boundaries and when it's appropriate to be private.  I've learned sooo much by being around him.  He's is so dang chivalrous, it's incredible.  He always opens my door, walks me to my house, pays for things, he always wants to take care of me.  It's so nice, and I always worry that he will think I'm not thankful or take those little things for granted, but they are huge things to me and I could never not appreciate that about him!  Although I may not always show it the way he would feel appreciated, I do appreciate everything he does for me.  I think we still have a long way to go to learn about the way each other accepts and feels loved.  Hopefully we'll figure it out someday....but I think it's something that every couple goes through.  We do have our fun times!!!! 

We recently went out in his new LandCruiser to test it out in the wild...it was so much fun!  Captured some beautiful things! 

I spotted this huge nest and saw and eagle or a hawk or something, it looked so cool....I told Brandt to back up and when we got a closer look, we saw little babies in the nest. I got out to take some pictures and the mamma must have felt threatened because she took off. The babies were soooo cute! I just felt like it was an amazing thing to see out in nature. Maybe I had cabin fever from being so secluded indoors for the last 8 months, but this was an awesome thing to see.

So I think I would love to start a new hobby that includes restoring an FJ40 Land Cruiser. I would absolutely love it! I love vintage classic things...and I also love 4X4 SUVs that can rock crawl and climb! It's an expensive hobby but hopefully I'll be able to take it up someday! :)

And of course, I can't forget Brandt's land cruiser.....it's so clean and tight!  He's going to take good care of this one!  :)

Hopefully this summer is going to continue with fun adventures!!!!  I can't wait!

No Fear