Hellow Autumn, Welcome to Summer!

Goodbye monsoon! Today was the official end to our local monsoon. Although, I'm not really buyin' it. First of all, just because my car is dusty and filled with water spots does not constitute a monsoon. Second of all, it can't just be monsoony at night while I'm getting my beauty sleep. It's just not fair. C'mon AZ, if you really want to keep this place inhabited by people you are going to have to intersperse some rain in between all of the hellish sunshine. Conference weekend is usually our benchmark for scalping and planting our winter law (insert gloat here), but it's not going to happen with 105 in the forecast. Anyway, I digress... With that said, I guess rules are rules. So long monsoon season! Hello Autumn, welcome to summer. Here's a recap of my fav's from summer 2010.

San Diego with friends

Our morning exercise. Seriously, my body would be smokin' if this was my workout scenery. Instead, I'm stuck watching CNN and MSNBC on the treadmill at the gym. Seriously, news does not help me forget that I'm running. I need E! true Hollywood story or TMZ to help me forget my troubles. I know you all feel the same, don't lie. Notice Caleb's bike. It had a sticker on the car seat that said "big daddy"

Our transportation to the beach.

I chose the bike because it went with my outfit!

A cotton candy machine

James' heaven will be made out of this stuff!

I was reluctant to post about our deep-sea fishing endeavors because it was some fierce suckage. I was a poor sport, and grumpy. But, time heals most wounds. I've forgiven everyone else for catching my fish, and I'm happy for them for catching my fish. I'm just still a tad bitter that EVERYONE ELSE ON THE BOAT CAUGHT SOMETHING EXCEPT US! The crew tried to "help" me catch one by hooking the fish and letting my reel it in. I told them I didn't want their pity fish and flipped them off (ok, so not really, but if I wasn't such a goody goody I may have) That's the severity of the situation. I did tell them I didn't want their pity fish though. James took it anyway. My smirk says "I'm trying to be supportive for all my friends who caught something and trying to make the amount of money spent on this excursion worth it, but really I just want to pout so get the camera out of my face"This was all that was left of one of Shanna's catches after she was being trailed by a seal. I think the seal got the better end of the deal. As you can see, though, she is still all smiles because this was probably the 3rd or 4th fish she caught.

Freudian slip that Caleb got cut out of the picture, perhaps. I'm pretty sure he caught the most fish in our group. Karma, baby, Karma!

One of the joys of being in young women's is getting to go to girl's camp and not going to all the classes and such. This was our camp. Very cozy, very dusty, very camping!

on top of a very high look-out tower

calm and collected

probably the highlight of my summer- my secret sister rocked my world. Cereal one day, peanut butter the next, and a burts bees chap stick to top it all off.

I'm so glad Mekenna and Catty (nieces) came!

4 days past due for a shower. Good thing blogs aren't scratch and sniff!

17 hours worth of car riding later, my mom and I attended another Utah wedding.

And it rained, and it was freezing, but BEAUTIFUL!

The obligatory, yet coveted pic with Hailey and Natalie. Girls, you make my heart sing!

The mother of the groom. Isn't she lovely! She'd probably kill me for posting this, but chances are she'll never look at it. Plus, she was the one whoe posed long enough for me to snap this rare moment of beauty, elegance and grace!

In July, we bid adieu to our bff's Mike and Erin. But, by far the funniest moment happened to my 2 1/2 year old niece, Mia. Below, she is sporting her 3 month old baby brother's onesie. Why, you ask? Because her father was in charge. 'nuff said! She was originally dressed in gender and age appropriate attire, but she peed her pants and her father decided this get-up was the next best thing. It was so funny to see her running around in this, I was about to pee my pants. I wonder what Adam would have had for my wardrobe alternate?

Ok, a shot of the ever happy couple leaving for D.C.

I took a quick jaunt up a "hill" at the end of July. And by quick, I mean a 4 hour hike with a pack the size of a pregnant ox strapped to my back, digging into my hips, and by hill I mean mountain. We had a weekend youth backpacking retreat, so I was forced to go...

It was beautiful at the top! We camped overnight and got water from the mouth of the spring. Thank you heavenly father for pieces of heaven in sunny Arizona!

I heart the youth of our ward! (they must have some awesome leaders)

The hike down was a literal DOWN-POUR! Rain, lightning and thunder were our companions. We knew no one would believe us so we had to break out the camera for proof. I bet you're still a skeptic. James is.

A flash flood, by definition! This wash was DRY the day before. Honest to blog!

We ended our summer with a quasi-impromptu trip to LA. Mostly to check out a car. Yes, you heard that right. We drove 6 hours to look at a car. And then we drove back, without a car. I'll explain later... Along the way home we stopped at the outlets. It was a nice getaway.
Here is the view from our hotel room. This was so meant to be!

Their target has an elevator. I was stunned.

There ya have it folks, another summer under the proverbial belt. During summer I often contemplate how I ever have time for a full time job!

Your Homework Assignement for Wednesday

This is a touching story about a local high school student. She attends the school where I teach, and her B.F.F is one of my current students. Her name is Carolyn "Ceci" Christenson. She was diagnosed with MDS, a failure of the bone marrow in September in 2009. She was able to find a match, and is doing very well. She is trying to spread the word and raise awareness about the need for donors in the National Marrow Registry. So, all you need to do to help is to click on this link http://emailoprah.org/ and email Oprah on WEDNESDAY 9/29/2010. It's super easy; it'll only take a millisecond of your time, and you'll feel good about yourself. It's a win, win, win for EVERYONE!

Below are a few links about her and her story:

Local news article: http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2010/09/24/20100924gilbert-girl-oprah-e-mail-campaign.html

Her website: http://www.cecisclimb.com/

Her blog: http://cecichristenson.blogspot.com/

Thank you for caring!

p.s. Kendra, you can totally count this as one of your September Service thingy ma-bob-ers.

Dressing the Part

It turns out, Soifa (niece) and I both have the same cleaning attire. This is exactly what I wear whenever I clean house- complete with pearls and ruffles! Don't you do the same?

5 car wrecks, 4 years, 3 marriages, 2 missions and 1 dog later...

On Friday, my parents embarked on an unforgettable journey (the good kind)! They left their kids, their home, their dog and their jobs for a whole month to gallivant across Europe like 2 twitter pated kids in love! They have been calling this vacation their “25 year anniversary present” for almost 5 years now. Aptly, it is now being recognized as their 30 year anniversary present-extravaganza! So, why has it taken them nearly 5 years to proceed with this vacation? Laziness, perhaps? No desire to leave their precious offspring? Waiting for the fall of communism? Or D, none of the above?

If you chose D, you are correct! In fact, it’s wholly and justifiably the fault of all those things they left behind (kids, dog, house, jobs) why they are now just celebrating all those years together. A couple of their kids decided to get married, wreck of few cars and go on missions. You know, the same old stuff kids always do! 3 marriages, 2 missions, 5 car accidents, and 4 years later they set a date: September 3rd, 2010. They (and by “they” I mean my father) had a countdown on his phone and would periodically email my mom things like “174 days, 36 hours and 17 minutes…” Nothing could or would obstruct their view and reality of September 3rd from happening. However, that didn’t seem to keep the universe from trying. Below is a list of proceedings that took place recently that may have put this trip on further hiatus. It is my opinion that perhaps these indiscriminate, and somewhat pricey, diversions were merely the catalyst and a reaffirmation that this vacation was requisite for their survival and sanity.

• 
  June: T-minus 3 months: Boys went Jet Skiing. Dad hit rock, $2,000 charge
• July: T-minus 2 months: Corolla incurred another accident. Totaled car, $2,000 repair and down a car.
• August: T-minus 3 weeks: Roxy (dog) consumed an inconsumable item, had to have emergency surgery on stomach, $1800 operation, mom was put on “poop watch” for 10 days (had to make sure her all her pipes were working), dog is still on antibiotics, and has 10 inch scar on stomach.
• August: T-minus 1 month: Mom had to have gallbladder removed. Could be 6 week recovery time, if doc can’t do surgery laparoscopiclly. Go news- all went well!
• August: T-minus 3 weeks: house alarm system is triggered when dog goes out dog door, police visit at 3 am. Luckily, no charge for this one, but need to have alarm adjusted. Scheduled to come day before they leave. No on shows… Mom doesn’t feel at ease knowing either a) alarm can’t be armed for fear of setting it off again, or b) if alarm is set, dog will set it off, police arrive, charges ensue.
• September: T-minus 1 week: Stolen Identity! Someone decided to go on a home improvement shopping spree, compliments of my parents, $1400 in charges and will have to dispute charges via electronic correspondence while in Europe.
• September: T-minus 1 day. Ethan’s phone decided to die and go to phone heaven, must have working phone so we can get a hold of the lad. $50 charge for replacement phone, dealing with phone company mumbo-jumbo, etc.

Like I previously mentioned, in reality, I think the above events actually enhanced their desire to get away from the pandemonium they left behind. Now the real question is, will the madness continue in their absence, or adjourn upon their return? Only time will tell…