Too Long...

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I have done a blog. September was so long ago! So much has happened since then! :0) Lets see... I am the Customer Service Manager at Franklin Covey, Aaron and I are both in the full swing of school, and we moved. Those are the big ones I guess! We have a zillion pictures to post so I will try to get them all in with some kind of caption so you know what they are.

Yesterday after Aaron and I got home from work we went over to Grandma Beal's to spend some time with my Uncle Brett and his family. My mom and sister and brother met us there with our Cousin Nora. (Lara was watching Nora while Eric and Vic were in McCall). We made ginger bread houses out of graham crackers, candy and merengue icing. It was super fun and super sticky! After we made our creations, had dinner, and played some games it was time for the munchkins to take a bath! Eliza (age 3) had been playing with a "touger" (couger aka- a plastic lion/tiger that my uncles had when they were kids) all day and insisted that the touger needed a bath too. So Brett made a " touger bath" in Grandma's sink while Eliza took a bath in the tub! :0) What a lucky touger!

This is Miss Nora Jean - she is skipping crawling- she loves to walk around instead. She was so fun to play with this past week while they were visiting from Jackson. I am so jealous that Lara got to spend the whole summer taking care of the little girl!

Gretel and I were quite the construction team! I was in charge of the pastry bag full of super sticky icing and Gretel showed me where to put it! We built a pretty fancy gingerbread house, complete with trees, fence, a pond with a waterfall and a rock path. We had so much fun turning candy and cookies into a masterpiece of construction and landscape :0) P.S. I didn't know that Aaron was taking the picture, otherwise I would have turned the right way!

Eliza wanted to make a choo-choo train instead of a house with her crackers. Her train even had a funny face on it with ears and everything! She insited on carrying it around the house until everyone saw her train. Then she passed out the left over candy until we all had some. She is such a cutie! We are going to miss having all the munchkins around to keep us on our toes and make us smile and laugh!

The day before Thanksgiving we were scheduled for Family Pictures with Tyler Cazier at Kathryn Albertson Park. It will still be a few weeks before we get the pictures back but Justin was able to snap a few afterwards. It was so fun spending time with my family, I am so glad to have such a wonderful family and a wonderful Husband who loves spending time with my family.

The past few months living in Boise, Aaron and I have taken advantage of the wonderful weather and living so close to the great outdoors! We love to take strolls down on the Green Belt and on the ridge to Rivers Trails by Camels Back Park. It is so peaceful! We can drive just 10 min. and be in a whole different place!

The Boise River Green belt

The Ridge to River's Trails

For Halloween we went over to my moms to carve pumpkins! It was closing night for the musical "Kiss Me Kate" at Eagle High. Justin was in the musical so he didn't get to finish his pumpkin, so we all carved different parts of it. We had a blast getting covered in pumpkin guts, even Cocoa (the chocolate lab) had fun fetching chunks of pumpkin.

Lara was helping carry out the smaller pumpkins. She looks great in her gym shorts and Justin's milking boots :0)

This year I decided that I should learn how to can my own things, we canned applesauce, peaches, and apricot jam. I had so much fun spending time with my mom and Grandma.

While we were packing, cleaning and getting ready to move Cleo wasn't quite sure what to do with all the craziness so she frequently hid under the couch, in the boxes, and even in her paper bag! She loves the new apartment, there are lots of windows with wide window sills that she can sit in and look out and see the squirrels in the trees.

Mom, Lara, and I ran in the 5K Women's Fitness Celebration. It was pouring rain the whole time and while we were at the starting line we saw lightning and heard thunder! We had fun and were soaked to the bone!

So, we are all setteled into our new apartment and enjoying the wonderful week we have been able to spend with my family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We are truly so blessed to live in such a wonderful place and to live so close to my family! Christmas is right around the corner and I can't hardley wait to spend more time with my family! I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband who loves me (even when I am having a bad day). I am grateful for the extended family who take care of us and especially for the people who keep watch over my mom. The holidays are still a pretty rough time for us, everytime I turn around I expect to see my dad standing in the kitchen with a apron over his columbia fish shirt, or out in the back yard throwing toys for Cocoa, sometimes I think that if I turn around fast enough I might actually see him. I am so grateful for the gospel of Christ and the testimony that I have that one day I will get to see my dad again.

Crazy stuff...

Ok, nothing fantastic to really report. It has just been a crazy week and another one is on the books! When we moved up here to Boise I applied at about a billion different places trying to find a better job-which is how I landed two home health jobs-sounds great huh? It was for about a month then my hours were cut down to 10 hours a week- I have to drive out to Eagle three times a week for a 3.5 hour shift with a patient that doesn't think she needs care... (talk about a challenge)

So, about two weeks ago one of the places I had previously interviewed with called me up out of the blue and asked if I was interested in a part time position! I said heck yes and started about a week ago. Well, my third day on the job my assistant manager quit and left just my manager and I to fill all the shifts last week and this week! UGH! So crazy! School, and two jobs that don't really go together PLUS trying to start up with Mary Kay. I think I have lost my mind!

Well, since we are now short an assistant manager my manager thinks that I would be a wonderful replacement! So on top of everything I am now trying to get the assistant manager spot.... Yup, I have officially lost my mind! But if I get the position then I will get a pay increase and some more hours so I will quite the home health thing. (I didn't exactly sign up for 10 hours a week as a babysitter- I am not using any of my CNA abilities) So I will let you know how that goes...

Now that there is a possibility of a little more income each month, we are thinking that we should move. Our lease is up in November so we will see what we can find. We aren't really fond of our present apartment other than the fact that I can walk to school. But I think I will opt to drive to school and feel a little safer. We didn't quite realize what we were moving into when we signed up- if we knew what we know now we probably wouldn't be here. So back to hunting for an apartment! :0) I love looking for apartments!

Well, Have I bored you all to tears? I hope not... but I will stop now. Besides- I should tidy up a bit and think about getting to bed a little early! I hope you all are having a fantastic day/week/month! Loves!!! :0)

Staycations!

Happy end of summer! I have been in school at Apollo for two weeks now and I LOVE it! I was able to transfer some of my credits from ISU so my class load is a little lighter. Aaron has been at BSU for about a week and is enjoying it so far. :0)

A couple of weekends ago we were supposed to go on our last camping trip of the summer, but there was a nasty fire where we were supposed to go so we decided to stay home and help clean out my mom's garage. We are storing some boxes there so we figured we could help out! We built some shelves, rearranged, and cleaned off the food storage shelves we built a few years ago. Grandpa Beal came over to help, so with Mom, Grandpa, Aaron, and I it went pretty fast!

This weekend Aaron and I have to work a little so we don't get to go anywhere fun. The weather has been super nice here in Boise so yesterday we decided to paint our apartment! Our Land lord said it was okay as long as it was "neutral accents"... So we have "chocolate milk" brown in our living room and dining room, a sage green in the bedroom, and sunny yellow in the bathroom! It has been so much fun to paint and re-arrrange our little apartment! We have some before and after pics! I don't know how well you will be able to see the colors...

This is how Cleo kitty helped paint... she would sleep on the couch, under the bed, and guard the screen door... :0)

We hope that everyone has a safe and fantatic Labor Day Holiday! :0)

Summer so far...

Ok- so I have just spent a few hours trying to use a blog editor to post a cute blog and I had it all figured out and now it wont post! GRRRR! Any ways- I guess I will just post and see how it works out... I will have to find a better editor or something who knows...Anyways... Here it goes!

Summer for us started out with our move from Pocatello to Boise. After lots of thought and prayer we decided to leave ISU and our family in Pocatello and venture to Boise. I was more than a little home sick and Aaron has always wanted to live in Boise so off we went! We were able to transfer with our jobs - Aaron with Money Tree and I was with Home Depot at the time. My Grandpa Beal and my brother Justin drove from Boise to Pocatello on Friday night May 30 and then back to Boise. The next morning we were up at about 5 am to sign our lease and get everything unloaded! Thanks to both Grandpas, Justin, Uncle Larry and some of our new ward members we were unloaded in 30 min! I couldn't believe it! I wish the unpacking went as quickly... Our new apartment isn't nearly as spacious as our last apartment but it will do for now.
June
The first part of June was consumed with unpacking, buying some new furniture, and finding a home for everything (other than it's cardboard tomb).
The end of June was our first year wedding anniversary! We were more than ready to get out of town and spend some time together. We set our sites on Cascade and McCall. We spent the night at the Ashley Inn in Cascade (it reminded me of London!). Saturday we took off for a day of wandering through McCall! We walked through town and then drove over to Ponderosa State Park. We drove through the park and walked on some of the little trails. We had some wonderful views of the Lake. It was a beautiful trip and we really enjoyed the time together.

July
My moms' brother, Brett, and his family were visiting from Utah for 10 days right around the fourth. We had a blast going to see the fireworks at the Meridian Speedway, going to the Zoo and some of the Parks around Eagle.

July was also our camping trip with my mom to the Lowman area. We had a great time enjoying the great outdoors! Mom brought Cocoa with her for the first night- she isn't used to camping so mom took her home the next morning and came back to finish out the trip. We had fun fishing in the river the first two days and hanging around camp. We had seen signs for some hot springs so Aaron and I decided to hike around and see if we could find them. It was about a 15 min hike along the river to a rock outcroping and the hotsprings spitting out the side of the mountain under the highway. We spent the heat of the afternoon sitting on the rock beach building rock stacks and keeping our feet in the cold river. Before we knew it we had spent about four hours by the water and had neglected to put on sunscreen- so our legs were a little fried! Thank goodness we had our hats on to keep our heads and faces shaded! It was a good trip and we can't wait to go camping again!



Our next adventure in July was our quick trip to the Twin Falls Temple open house. We went with my mom, my dad's brother Joel, his wife Jenn and their two children Jared and Julie as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Campbell. It was so wonderful to experience the spiritual joy of the Temple with my husband and family. I have been so blessed to be able to attend the temple many times, but each time I go I feel the warmth and comfort of the spirit. Every time I go to the temple I feel like if I could turn around fast enough I would see my dad sitting with me. What a blessing it is to be able to attend the temple and feel the love that our Father in Heaven has for us.
After the temple tour we drove up to Shoshone Falls for a picnic dinner and to walk around the falls. It was so beautiful and a great end to a wonderful day!

So I think that is most of the adventure so far this summer. We are having a blast in Boise and we can't wait to start school in a few weeks! What a blessing living close to my family and the Temple is in our life! On to August! :0)

Just a start...

Aaron and I have been married for just over a year! We have moved 4 times and the furthest is to where we are now - BOISE! We are so blessed to be close to my wonderful family and spend time with them.

We are young and struggling but our faith and our love are getting us through. We have faced some pretty big trials so far in our marriage, trials that have only strengthened our love for each other.

We are both working and going to school. Finding time together can get pretty creative sometimes! We are grateful for every moment we are in the same room. If there is one thing we have learned since being married is to not take anything for granted! In moving to Boise we have more opportunities for work and school and growing experiences. It is a rough time for us right now but as long as we can keep our heads above water we will be making progress! :0)

Well, I have to run to work (story of my life!). But I will post a little more later! It is almost the weekend- TGIF!