Monday, April 28, 2008

Check out my Slide Show!

Happiest place on earth!!!

Last week we went to Disneyland!!! I hadn't been for 13 years and it was Maile and Emmy's first trip there. Too bad Aaron couldn't meet up with us, the A is representing him. hee hee! Maile can't wait to go again and show him all her new friends. We decided to splurge and have one last hura (?) with my sister Jodi and her family before they leave for Germany and we leave for Arizona. Jodi's in laws were also there from Germany and my mom and brother Josh came along too, good thing, cause I needed some help without Aaron.
Disneyland is such a magical place, it honestly felt like we were in a magical little world there - I loved it!!

It was my first time to California Adventure, I loved Soarin over California and Screamin California


This picture just shows how much Maile loved seeing characters even if she didn't know half of them. She would just run up and hug them until they let go. When she finished hugging Minnie Mouse she said "I love you Minnie" and she honestly did love every character she saw, it was the highlights of the trip when we saw one.


Seeing the princesses left Maile in awe, she was so fun to watch cause she was just in a daze during any princess moment. Notice that she wore her princess shirt every day no matter how dirty it
I had to throw this picture in since it was the longest wait we had, but who goes to Disneyland and doesn't get a picture with Mickey, right? (at least that's what I kept telling myself)

Friday, April 18, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Iron Girls

I can't take the credit for the video, that was all April. I still can't seem to figure that stuff out, I was lucky to get hers onto mine. Anyways, so last weekend was soooo fun! We had a girls weekend in Vegas.

Preparation for the trip:
Pure hectic and stressful getting out there but once I was there it was all worth it. My biggest headache was the fact that I booked a ticket to Vegas since I was the only one from Utah going out there and the flight was actually cheaper than flying. Cheaper until I realized getting my bike there would cost $50 each way!!! I didn't realize that until 2 days before. I thought I could possibly squeeze my bike into a bag of some sort or a box that would be under the measurements - no luck. It was a miracle that we even got the bike in the bike box. My dad ended up taking the handle bars, pedals, seat, and wheels off in order to squeeze it into the box. I was ready to drive down there Friday morning since we couldn't fit the bike in the box and I would have to pay an extra $100 and nothing was coming together. My hold ups were that our car has been a little strange lately, my mom refused to let me drive by myself, and by the time I could get out of there it would be cutting it close to register in time. So, anyways, I just ended up paying the $$$ which I always hate since the triathlon alone is way more than I am ok with. Needless to say it was an expensive weekend.
Arrival:
Well once I got my bike there another issue presented itself - putting the bike back together. My other friend Brooke from Hawaii had just had a baby like 10 days earlier and was still willing to come get me from the airport - thanks Brooke so I tried to put the bike together at her house and I did struggle a bit but managed to get most of it ready to go except the pedals for some reason just weren't going, so when April got there I told her how they were supposed to get on and she did it no problem. So, I think I'm set with the bike finally after the huge hassle it was.
Race Day:
I love and hate race day mornings I get so giddy, excited, and nervous that I think I constantly have to go to the bathroom and I'm always freezing especially at the thought of getting in freezing water. The start time was delayed so April, Kristi, and I had fun taking pictures in our sexy wetsuits and caps (I really don't think it is ever possible to look sexy in either of them, especially the combination of the two, but we tried). Lake Las Vegas was gorgeous and it was such a nice morning.
Actually Race
We run into the water and it is FREEZING!!! I debated on the wetsuit but so glad I had it. I am terrible with open water swims cause I get so disoriented and seem to add an extra 200 yds because I get so off course. This swim was probably the worst I've ever had the water was so choppy cause of the wind and for some reason my cap kept slipping off and eventually came completely off along with my goggles, so I had to stop and tread water to put them on. I kept swallowing water cause of the waves and I felt sea sick. I survived though and finished 3rd in the swim, so I was feeling good running out of the water ripping off the wetsuit that felt like a huge leach on my body (it took me forever to get that thing off) so as I'm going to clip into the pedals on my bike, I can't seem to do it and everyone is yelling at me go go go!! Then the bike tech comes over and says "hey those are on backwards" What??? Oh geese! I was so mad! He grabs my bike and rushes it over to his van and messes it with if for a bit then realizes they are stripped so I can't use my bike anymore. I was honestly about to cuss, I couldn't believe after the huge ordeal of getting it out there of course this would happen. There was a bike lady there who helped me earlier and she suddenly jumped into action, grabbed a bike frame out of the van and they started putting it together as fast as they could. It was amazing all they did in such a short amount of time. In a matter of minutes I was off for the 26 mile trek. Everything else went pretty smooth other than the fact that people were zooming past me on the bike. It was an intense bike and run course with plenty of hills, but fortunately I didn't have any more setbacks. I just couldn't get over how ironic it was that I didn't even use my bike. I also couldn't get over how much I loved those bike people, they even fixed my bike while I was gone. Thank goodness! Even though I had some rough moments I ended up beating my personal best by 3 minutes and placed better than I expected. I love racing, I always get on such a high when I'm finished with a long hard race. Hopefully I can squeeze some more in before the prego time rolls around again.
Post Race:
Exhaustion and hunger kicked in later that day, but we still managed to go out on the town and have some fun. It was weird being away from Maile and Emmy for so long, but it was such a fun little retreat with the ladies. By Sunday morning I was anxious to get back to the girls. I love ya Aprizzle, Julz and Kristi! It was so fun to hang out again, this get together was way past due. Hopefully next year more can join since it is now an annual event, so mark your calenders anyone else who wants to join. Its super fun!!!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Happy Birthday to US!!!!




If you're wondering why I have so few candles lit on my cake take a look at David who just got done blowing most of them out before I got the chance.








Emmy is usually great at smiling for the camera but in this situation with everyone acting crazy to get her attention and attmepting to get a smile she just looked from person to person until it was too much for the poor girl and she started screaming


Even though Emmy wasn't too aggressive digging into her cake, she still managed to make herself a mess, but then again how could she dig in too much with that thumb always being in there.
So, I guess I really do need to get used to the idea of sharing a birthday. I must admit each year is gettting better considering I was in labor and in the hospital last year, so hopefully that pattern will continue. Without Aaron here I wasn't motivated to make big plans, but my family planned a fun day for us. We went swimming then Cafe Rio and topped it off with cake and presents at the house. Thanks to everyone who came it really made the day special, even if you did just come for my Mom's best ever strawberry shortcake I still loved having ya'll there.


The Birthday Girls!!!Kamaile, Hanna and Jentz having a great timeGrandma and Emmy

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

One Long Road Trip

This past week we made a trip out to Artesia, NM for Aaron's graduation and I still can't believe we actually drove out there. I'm not one for long road trips, especially with kids (just going to Layton or Provo is long enough for me) so ya, it was one long road trip. Although, I really have no room for complaining since Aaron's Dad drove almost an extra 4000 miles just to pick us up and make it possible for us to be there - big thanks to Bill. I thought he was crazy and not serious when he proposed the idea that he was willing to drive from Ohio to pick us up in Salt Lake and then take us down to Artesia.

So here is our week day by day, sorry probably too many boring details.


Monday we left around 9:30 am stopped for lunch (20 min) then one more 15 min stop and made it to Flagstaff around 6:00 pm to stay with Aaron's sister Rachel for the night. It was so great to get out of the car and let the girls play.

Tuesday we had to head out by 6 am for another long drive to Roswell, (yes, the UFO capital of the world) thankfully both Kamaile and Emmy finally fell asleep for good long naps in the car, so we didn't stop once and made it to Roswell by 2:30 checked into the hotel, got freshened up, then drove another 45 min to surprise Aaron in Artesia (turned out it wasn't a surprise at all, he already figured it out) We spent the rest of the day with him which was great.
Roswell actually has a UFO alien museum, a crash sight were the UFO landed and a bunch of alien stores around. If any of you have wanted to ever go there, these pictures are pretty much all you need to see.


Wednesday was his graduation from the basic training. He did really well and was awarded the PT (physical training) award as well as 1st in academics and he was nominated by his class to speak at graduation. I was really glad we were there to hear him speak and receive those honors - it made all the long driving worth it. They only gave 5 awards, so to receive 2 of them is impressive. Now he has 8 weeks of Spanish and then he'll be done finally! The rest of the day was spent with him in Artesia.

Aaron and his buddy in their smokey the bear hatsAaron with some of the instructors and 2 of the other students who received awards

Aaron did a great job with his graduation speech

Since his Dad held a government position working for the FBI he was able to award Aaron his pin.
Thursday morning it was off to Phoenix to stay with Aaron's brother, Spencer. It took us 13 hours to get there, but we did take a little hour detour down to Sierra Vista, our soon to be home. It was good to finally see the place that I've been trying to picture for the past 5 months and actually I think it was better than I had imagined, I'm not sure if its just because we had been driving past and staying in some pretty run down towns and seeing nothing but dessert and brown as far as the eye can see, not to say that Sierra Vista wasn't brown just not as brown. Sierra Vista was very refreshing and so modern looking, it got me excited for our new adventure. I have to admit, though, it kind of freaks me out just how much of nothing ya have to pass through to get there, we really will be right down by the border. So anyways after looking around there for a bit we had another 3 1/2 hours to reach our destination. At least, Maile finally fell asleep on that last leg, the entire 7 hours before that she wouldn't sleep.

Friday was nice and relaxing. We just chilled and recuperated from the long journey. Aaron flew in late that night and Rachel and Donivan also journeyed down so they could watch the girls the next day while we went house hunting-thanks guys, that was so helpful.

Saturday bright and early Aaron, Spencer and I made the 3 1/2 hour trip back down to Sierra Vista (much nicer without the girls) to look for a house. After looking for a few hours we decided on a new community where we will probably build. It is a perfect neighborhood with all the things I love- pools, park, playground, sand volleyball, a running trail, and just to own a house will be very exciting. My mind has already been going wild with decorating ideas.

Sunday was great cause we were able to just relax and spend all day with Aaron until we said one last farewell for 8 more weeks. We actually flew home from Pheonix just me with the 2 girls and even though it was hard at times mostly because it was a 10:30 pm flight it sure beat a 10 hour drive. Aarons dad left Pheonix Sunday morning and didn't get back to Ohio until 11 pm Monday night, I don't know how you did it Bill, but I sure am glad you were willing.