Magic in the Air

I'm sitting here getting ready to head to Nate's house for our Christmas Eve dinner and celebration.  I just finished all the shopping, wrapping, and prepping.  The gifts are laid out and the presentation is just how I wanted it.  As I sat here thinking about this year and the new traditions we are starting, I couldn't help but realize how blessed I am.

Last Christmas was hard.  I was just getting ready to move, for the 3rd time in 18 months.  This time I was moving back in with my parents, to save for a house but with no move out date set.  All my sisters had their husbands, families, and in-laws to visit, and Joe was in Orlando.  I wasn't dating anyone, and had no dating prospects, and honestly was at the point of thinking that was going to be my reality for the rest of my life.

I cannot believe how much has changed in 1 year.  I sit here tonight with a fiance and a son, a puppy and a place to call home.  In 47 short days I will be a wife and a mom.  I am so blessed.

It has been incredible this year to prepare for Christmas through the eyes of a 7 year old.  I asked my mom the other day "How do you know when you are done?"  I want to get him the world.  The Spirit of this Christmas Season is truly in our homes as we hope and dream and believe with this sweet little soul.

This year after decorating for Christmas, I saved the Nativity for when Nate and Ryan got here.  We unpacked it one piece at a time, talking about each piece, who it was, and why they were there that special night.  I am so grateful for that sweet little soul who was born into the world, who came as a brand new baby to a very overwhelmed mother and father, in a stable in Bethlehem.  He came to save us, and in so doing he knows of the heartache and of the joy of each one of us, and that is the reason we celebrate.

Merry Christmas, I hope you all can feel the magic in the air.

Baptism

On Saturday, October 13, Nate was baptized.  It was such an incredible day spent with so many people who love and support him. Everything was perfect and it was such a spiritual high.  I am so happy for Nate and Ryan and this step in their lives. His mom and sisters came into town from Montana and it was so neat having them there being so supportive of him.  I am so proud of him and know that he has been and will continue to be so blessed for making this decision.

More than I Could Ever Dream

tonight as i sit here catching up on my blog i am overwhelmed at how blessed i am.  it has been 90 days that nate and i have been dating and we have had so much fun together as a clan.  ryan is so much fun and a little bundle of energy and keeps me on my toes with his quick wit and little grin.  mowgli has his moments that make me stress but over all has been such a great little puppy.  nate and i have spent our summer driving back and forth between our houses trying to spend as much time together as possible.  i am so happy and love this clan of mine so much.

Birthday Weekend

Last week I celebrated my 30th birthday.  Eek.  How did that happen?  I swear I'm still 22... All in all it was a great weekend except for the little moment when I realized that in 10 short years I would be 40... but we don't need to talk about that.

Friday afternoon I took a half day off work and went to the zoo with my mom, Stella, Nate, and Ryan.  It was a perfect fall day and we had so much fun.  My mom is such a good Granny and takes such good care of everyone.  After the zoo we met my dad for dinner at Village Inn for a fun breakfast dinner.

Nate and Ryan came to my house after the zoo and we got ready to put in a movie.  Nate suggested I go put  my jammas on, and when I came back down the lights were off and they had a cake for me!  They were going to wait till midnight but Ryan was getting sleepy (and lets be honest, I was too...afterall, I'm not 29 anymore).

Saturday Nate and I went to the afternoon session of general conference.  Ryan hung out at my parents where he played marbles with my dad and helped my mom decorate the house for Halloween.  Then Nate and my dad went to Priesthood and then Nate and I went to dinner at Pei Wei.

It was such a perfect celebration with the people I love.  I am so happy and could not ask for one more thing in my life.  Except maybe to be 25.

GRAND ADVENTURE

In July Nate asked me if I had plans on September 29.  Evidently he is more of a planner than I am.  He was planning a Grand Adventure to celebrate my birthday.  He kept it a secret for the next 2 months (secret from me; he managed to tell every member of my family, his family, and all our co-workers) and kept me guessing.

The day finally arrived, and we headed west.  We drove to Tooele, and then Nate made me close my eyes for the last 1/2 mile of the drive.  I really really like surprises, but this had been going on for SO long and I really wondered if I was going to die before he told me I could open them.  I know that sounds dramatic but it is true.

He FINALLY said to open them, and there in front of me was this sign: Skydive Utah!!!!!  This sweet man of mine pushed me out of a plane for my birthday!!!  I had guessed a lot of things but had been giving him far less credit than he deserved.

We waited for about 45 minutes for our turn after signing our lives away.  We watched about 4 groups of people get ready, load up, take off in the plane, and land, all smiles.  We watched the employees pack parachutes and listened to them talk about all the different aspects of skydiving.

And then they called our name and it was time to get ready.  We met our tandem instructors Sam and Alec (side note about mine:  when we were waiting I heard this big, goofy looking guy laughing this big hearty laugh.  I said to Nate "Something about that guy doesn't inspire much confidence..."  Guess who introduced himself as my tandem instructor when we walked over?  Yep, Karma.) and they strapped us into our harnesses.  They were fun and goofy and made it such a fun experience.  Once we were strapped in it was just a few minutes till they said "There's our ride!"  We ran out to the tarmac and hopped into the tiniest plane I've ever seen.

There were a few other jumpers in the plane besides us, and it was crazy how quickly this little toothpick airplane gained altitude.  The door of the plane was open till it got too cold, and then they shut it till we got to 13,000 feet.  At 11,000 feet Sam finished strapping our harnesses together and gave me a 30 second run down on what was going to happen.  Next thing I knew the door was opening and the first 4 guys had jumped.

All the sudden I found myself standing on the threshold of an airplane, holding onto nothing but the shoulder straps of my harness, and watching the ground zip by below me.  It was the most unreal feeling I have ever experienced.  I could hear Sam saying something about Ready 3-2-1 and then we were falling!  We did a little front flip and then evened out falling flat on our bellies at 120 miles per hour...talk about a rush!  It was so crazy to see the Great Salt Lake and the mountains and the fields from that viewpoint, and so loud with the wind! We free fell for 60 seconds till we reached 5500 feet, and then pulled the parachute.  Nate was much more brave and they flew down in a head dive for a while... Once the chute had caught us and we were steadied, we just cruised around spiraling slowly and calmly towards the hangar, and the next thing I knew he was telling me how we were going to land.  And the next thing I knew we were safe and sound back on solid ground.  The whole experience took less than 5 minutes but was worth every second.

I love this man of mine who plans such fun things and takes such good care of me.  It is always an adventure with our clan but this was definitely one for the books.

Shooting the Tube

Earlier in September Nate took us to Shoot the Tube.  It is in Salt Lake, under the I-215/I-80 exchange, and is a quarter mile viaduct that comes out into a little pool.  We took Mowgli and walked through the dog park--I could not believe how many people were out and about with 4-legged friends!  Mowgli enjoyed the walk part but wasn't sure about the tube shooting...

Our first run down we had little tubes..but by about half way down they were destroyed.  We ran it 2 more times just on our behinds which worked pretty well.  The last time down things got a little sketchy when all the sudden I heard Ryan scream "PAPPA!!!!!" and realized it was just me and him, and that Nate was a ways back and I had no idea what had happened to him.  We had no option but to keep going but I was horrified to what I was going to discover at the bottom.  When we got down I learned that the street signs used to stop up the tube (you have to let water build up in order to push you down) had broken free from the top and one was crashing down behind Nate.  Like the true gentleman he is, he pushed us ahead and then (while holding Mowgli) slowed himself down and kept the debris contained.  I think we had been ready to call it a day anyway, but that solidified it for me.

We went to dinner at Lonestar Taqueria which is one of my favorite places but you would have thought we were trying to order the moon by the way they reacted to us ordering 3 plates of fish tacos...

It has been such a fun summer going on all these adventures with my 2 favorite boys.  I am such a lucky girl and am trying to soak up every minute of it.

Dirty Dash

In September Nate invited me to join his work team for the Dirty Dash at Soldier's Hollow.  I have been wanting to do one of these runs for a while but was a little nervous since I have not been keeping on top of my workouts lately and worried I wouldn't be able to keep up.  But Nate talked me into it and I found myself riding up to Heber early on the morning of September 22.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!!  The team was relaxed and not in a hurry to finish (I think we took about 2 hours to run the total 10k) and ended up completely covered in mud.  Luckily our heat didn't start till 10:20 so it had warmed up a bit by the time we started, but was still pretty chilly in that mud.  When we finished we stood in line for garden hose showers but by that point we weren't picky!

Summer time

This has been such a fun summer!  I can't believe it is already September and that the leaves are turning orange.  

I didn't think I would be doing anything else this summer after Hawaii, but I have been able to go on two fun camping trips.  

The first one was just Nate, Ryan , Mowgli and I going up to Cascade Springs in Pleasant Grove Canyon.  We left Friday after work, made tin foil dinners, roasted mallows, hung out by the fire, and then called it a night.  Saturday morning we got up, went on a walk around Cascade Springs, and then came home.

This past weekend my family went to Flaming Gorge for Labor Day.  Although the weather was a little cooler than we would have loved, it was fun to get away and enjoy each other's company.  Nate and Ryan were great sports in chillin with my family and little Mowgli proved to be a great little camping buddy.

In July we even squeezed in an afternoon of kayaking down the Provo river.  Ryan reminds us every day that he wants to do this for his birthday next July.  

We can't wait for many more adventures to come!

Pick of the Litter

This post goes back to the 9th grade.  When we all had to find someone to job shadow for the day.  Knowing I would grow up to be a veterinarian, I arranged to spend the day at Dr. White's office in Farmington.

The first patient of the morning was a somewhat nasty little furry friend who had all sorts of warts that needed to be removed.  I started to doubt the wisdom of this job shadow.  But then Dr. White and I headed into exam room 1, where the most unique and impressive canine I've ever seen was waiting for shots and a check-up.  That is when I discovered the Chinese Shar Pei, and it may have been the first time I fell in love.  

Fast forward fourteenish years.  Years spent reading Shar Pei books, dog training books, visiting litters, and dreaming.  I knew there were steps that would need to be taken before this dream came true, especially the big one of getting a permanent house with a yard.  

And now, the day has arrived.  Well, almost.  On Saturday, my mom, Elise and I went to a home in Ogden where Bruno and Dessa had just had a litter of 6.  Born on June 8, these little critters were absolutely adorable.  Angie, Adriana, and Cortez were the sweetest people who absolutely love their 4 legged friends and I'm so happy to be adopting a little guy who comes from such a great home.  After an hour of playing, I chose the little red fawn boy, who hopefully will grow up to look just as regal and handsome as his pappa with the sweet, friendly personality of his mamma.  He will be ready to come home the first week of August and I can hardly wait!

Some fun things:
*** At 4 weeks, he weighs in at 4 pounds.  The runt is 2 pounds and the 2 big cream babies are 6 pounds.
*** He has the longest hair of the litter, making him softer than his siblings
*** Adriana and Cortez have dubbed him Baby Boom.
*** His little tongue is pitch black.
*** When I rolled him onto his back with his legs in the air, he wiggled for a minute and then lay there content as could be to have his tummy scratched
*** At the end of our fun filled hour, I set him down to watch him walk around.  He immediately plopped down on his haunches, bowed his head, and fell asleep!!!  I've never seen a dog fall asleep still sitting up and it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen.  After a second his little feet curled up off the ground and he just rolled into a ball, and the next thing we knew he was snoring.
*** Name frontrunners are Mowgli, Riggins, and Bones.
*** I love him so much and can't wait for him to be my new roommate!

Happy is...

 I have had SO many FUN things going on lately!  I have totally neglected my blog but have been thinking about the great things going on in my life and figured I better document a few of them.
** I am totally shameless and ripped several of these right off my sister's blogs.  Thank you sisters.


1. Girls Weekend
What was originally intended to be a Girls Weekend in St. George turned into a weekend spent at my parents.  But that did not stop us from doing one planned craft, one impromtu craft, tons of shopping, pedicures, good food, exploring City Creek, losing and finding Lo's purse, taking over stores with our craziness, and just overall having a great time.  It is always fun to have the whole clan together but it was a great chance to have just the girls.  Thanks to dad and the brother-in-laws for letting us have a weekend off.

2.  Asher Man

This little bug is getting SO BIG!!!  He is such a bundle of joy and makes everyone so happy.  I can't believe it is almost his birthday--I can't imagine life before him!  He is such a good baby and is so adored by everyone around him.

3.  Cousins
These 5 are so much fun.  It is fun seeing Katie as an aunt and Chelsea as a mom and these kiddos spoil Asher.  They were so fun and so well behaved on Easter Sunday in their fancy new digs.

 4.  Cinco de Mayo
Thank you Nate for adding some colour to our family!  Katie is never one to back down from a party but she really outdid herself on this Fiesta.  The whole family turned into a bunch of clowns with fake moustaches, sombreros, fruity beverages, 7 layer bean dip, fajitas, and of course a pinata.  So happy I could participate this year!
                                  

5. Best friends

The Woodrose girls got together for some food and shopping at City Creek--how has it been so many years since our college days?  We could sit for hours laughing and talking and of course eating.  Congrats to Jenn and Melani on their exciting news--its so fun to watch these girls start their own families.

6. Burundi

Elise got me hooked on plants and especially on naming them.  I got this little beauty last year when I had an empty pot and she is THRIVING!!!  I'm not gonna lie, I don't have the best luck with plants, but I am sure in love with this little thing.

 7. Playoffs Baby!
When the Jazz made it to the playoffs I figured my best date option was Jackson.  This boy knows his basketball.  We drove down from Logan, at sour watermelons on the way down, stopped at every party store along the way for margarita glasses (this boy learned how to quest for something from his mamma), ate ice cream for dinner, and enjoyed Game 3 of the series.  

Unfortunately the Jazz didn't pull of the win (Massive Matt Bonner ended the first half with a crazy 3 point shot and it was downhill from there) but we had a great night!  A sleepover at Granny and Grandpa's and then back up to Logan completed the weekend. 

This week I got this fantastic thank you card in the mail--props to a good mom raising grateful kids but little does she know the pleasure was mine.  

8. Construction

 Amidst all this fun stuff I have managed to spend plenty of time at the construction site watching my home be built.  In 62 days we have gone from stakes in the ground to having it completely framed.  I love it so much and can't wait for it to be done.  It makes me so happy to just be there--several times I have sat on the porch at night just enjoying the beautiful weather and soaking in being there.  Last week I went to a neighborhood girls night and met some of my soon-to-be neighbors and I'm so excited to have such a great neighborhood.

 9. Hawaii!!
In 2 days the whole clan takes off for 2 weeks in Paradise!  This trip has been in the making a long time and thanks to my very generous parents is going to be so much fun!  It could be interesting having the babes on the plane but I'm not one bit concerned--they will do great!  I've never been to Hawaii and can't wait for some fun in the sun.

As Glinda says, "Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true."  

I'm a lucky lucky girl and would say all my dreams are coming true.  I'm so incredibly blessed and wonder what I've done to deserve all this and more.