Girls Camp 2012

I was so happy that I could attend girls camp this year. Work has been so crazy the last two months so I was worried I wouldn't be able to go. I didn't get to go the entire week but I did get to go for two days and it was worth it! Plus I kind of over exerted myself and was really sick for a few days after I got home! So it's probably for the best that I only went for two days.
Tuesday morning we met at the church at 6am or even earlier, I can't remember! Anyways we had to leave that early so we could make our baptism time at the Gila Valley Temple. We did make it and the girls performed baptisms. It was a really pretty Temple. Afterwards we went to R&R Pizza which is owned by the YW Presidents brothers. We had the salad bar with all you can eat pizza and salad and it was good! I think I ate too much...as evidenced by how large I look in this picture.
  

Right after eating we made our way to the cabin in the mountains. I was given my own bedroom! It was great and the bed was soooo comfortable and huge. That day we sang songs, painted rocks (our theme was iRock), and set up a tent. Most of the girls ended up sleeping on the floor of the cabin but a few still wanted to sleep outside. My favorite part about camp was the food! We had a cook from the spanish branch and she made so much yummy food. I also found a mouse in the bathtub and one of the YW helped me catch it and release it outside. It was very cute.

The following day we went on a mini hike (and it was mini but it killed me!) We hiked to a rock so the girls could go repelling and a bunch of the girls kept slamming into the rock or falling! I decided not to do it this year! haha. After dinner I caught a ride with another leader since I had to work the following day. This was probably my last year going for a few years and I'm so glad I got to go. I love my YW :)

Happy Birthday!

Matt's birthday was last Thursday and I think he had a good one! All he wanted were gift cards to Cabela's or cash. He got a lot of money to spend on some gadgets. Funny and scary how much he loves that store! I had to work on his birthday so when I finally got home I brought Yan's chinese food (another favorite). I also got him this Garfield balloon! On Friday we went to Red Lobster, which has become tradition for his birthday because June is when they have their four course feast for $15!! Saturday we went to Cabela's for hours and then saw MIB 3. Happy Birthday to my man! I love you SO much :)

 

 

Gussie is petrified of the balloon haha. So of course we keep pushing it at her and she runs so fast! Here she is running away from the evil balloon!

Long Time Coming

Well I've been waiting to write this blog post for a long time. Four years to be exact. Matt and I decided four years ago that we wanted to start trying for a baby. It didn't work out so well and we decided to just let it be for awhile. Then we moved to Phoenix and decided to see a doctor. The doctor asked me to do a bunch of tests and I didn't really have the desire so we put it off for another year. Last year I tried a new doctor and loved him. He had me do some minimal tests and then put me on Clomid (fertility drug). He gave me a prescription for three rounds and after the third round I figured it wasn't going to work so I made my appointment to see him for another prescription. Two days before my appointment I decided to take a test. I expected a negative test because I had taken so many and they were always negative. When it turned up positive I couldn't believe it and I just started bawling! I guess I didn't realize how badly I wanted this. When Matt got home I told him and he didn't believe me!! We have been in shock ever since. We found out today that we are having a GIRL!!! I'm so excited as is Matt! We are due November 16th which means I am almost 20 weeks along. I still can't believe I'm going to have a baby but it'll be extra real in November haha! Thanks for all the support from family and friends! We have the best family and friends in the world :) I also have to say thank you to Heavenly Father for our trials. Matt and I have grown a lot in the past four years and looking back I'm honestly glad we had this time to ourselves. We are now ready for this next chapter in our lives!

One More Story About Birds

So on Memorial Day I get a call from Matt (he is on his way home from work) and he asks for the animal social worker. So I humored him and said 'yes what do you want?' He then proceeded to tell me that he was just down the street from our house and had found a hawk in the middle of the road with a broken wing and what should he do? So I looked up the phone number for the humane society and hopped in my car to go see him. Sure enough there was a hawk the size of a cat with a gimpy leg and weird looking wing. We called the humane society and they gave us a number for a bird rescue. Of course the bird rescue did not answer so we called the Goodyear police who gave us a few more bird rescues in town. They all fortunately answered, however, most of them were swamped with birds or they were really far from Goodyear. We felt a bit discouraged but called the last resuce, Liberty Wildlife, and they said they had a few volunteers in our area! So finally one of the volunteers called us and came and picked up the bird. They said he was very dehydrated and they were going to take him in for an IV. Poor little guy. He was pretty good during those 2 hours and only tried to get away once but Matt just kept following him. I don't know what happened to his foot but it was all bent and looked like it was almost dead. We never heard from them but we hope he is doing ok! Now you know that my hubby is a huge animal lover (maybe more than me!!) and would never pass up the opportunity to help a poor helpless animal.

 

 

 

 

 

BABIES!!!!

Our owl frenemies had babies! Matt told me he saw them on the way to work yesterday so I made him take me to see them when I got off last night. They were just sitting outside their storm drain and their mom was freaking out. As Matt got closer to them the mom screamed and the babies zipped into their home. Too cute. Not a great picture but it was at night and I haven't figured out how to use my new camera yet!! More to come, I'm sure :)

Playing Grown Up

My cousin Katie and I are 6 weeks apart to the day. We did everything together growing up. She lived in CA when I did and then she moved back East when she was probably 8 or 9 and my family followed a few years later. We were even baptized on the same day! So naturally when she had her first little baby doll I had to go spend some time with her and baby Cami. I bought a plane ticket (for the same price as driving) and flew to LA for four days. She lives in the cutest house right smack in the middle of Los Angeles!

Even though Cami was only a few weeks old, Katie threw a big bbq for me! My cousin Aubs and her husband came and my bff Mary and her family came! It was so fun to see everyone. Katie and I spent the rest of the week snuggling Cami, going on a walk where we trudged through the LA forrest and bought $10 worth of candy at the gas station!, eating at Cafe Rio and another delicious place right by her house, going to the singles ward ;), and just talking. I don't know how much of a help I was but I learned soooo much about newborns! My favorite part was taking a nap with Cami in my arms ( I know the nurses frown on this but it was so special!)

I was sad to go but I get to see them again in August and I can't wait to see how big my little Cami will be!


Enjoying the beautiful California weather

Mary! We grew up together (well from the time I was 13) in PA and were roomies in college. Now she is married with 3 beautiful children!

The only picture taken of us!

The Wild West

A few weeks back we took a road trip down to Tombstone, Arizona. Matt has literally been begging me to go there ever since we moved here three years ago. My Aunt and Uncle are both very adventurous and so when he mentioned it to them there was no more putting it off!! Tombstone is very close to the Mexican border about 1 hour south of Tucson. We drove down Friday night and stayed in a nice hotel in town. When we checked in we asked the front desk attendant if there were any good restaurants in town (it was 8pm). She said, "you want a restaurant that is open"? haha...yes..."well they all close by 8pm but try the bar, it might be open until 9pm". Ok so I don't know how people live there but to each his own! We did find a place that was open and Matt won a prize (which means he found hair in his food!!) We all got a good laugh. ~ Saturday morning we had a delicious hot breakfast at the hotel which was included in the price. Then we headed over to Boothill Graveyard which is a real graveyard but also a museum. It was very interesting to read the reasons people died 150 years ago....lots of violence and freaky deaths. After that we headed downtown and saw some people competing in a shooting competition....Matt really wished he could have joined! After watching them he got the bug and had to find a shooting range. We found a shop that let you shoot old guns but they weren't full of bullets just paint pellets. Matt had a great time doing that and I even shot some and hit the paper cutout in the head! Watch out! We next went to the Birdcage Theater where all of the 'cool' people used to hang out. There were nightly shows, gambling, and prostitutes. Who could ask for more?! The theater museum was kind of spooky but I got to learn about all of the prostitutes at the end so it was worth it! The most famous wild west men would frequent the Birdcage Theater like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. After touring Tombstone and learning all about how people used to live I am SO grateful I live in this day and age. ~ So after Tombstone we headed 45 minutes South to Bisbee, Arizona. It's a little town with the homes built into the hills. We had a fantastic lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then walked around. Let's just say it's a hippy town and kind of weird. After that we headed home. Glad Matt got to finally accomplish one of his life long dreams! Next time it will be my turn to pick our weekend getaway!

Occupy Bisbee

Bisbee, AZ We also took Old Time Photos but I don't have the picture yet. We dressed up as bandits!! So fun.