A Little Piece of Me

This last week has been bittersweet. Spending time with Daniel, Gladys and the kids before they more has been so much fun, but also hard because we all knew that the inevitable was coming: their moving to Virginia.

On Saturday we had a garage sale (got sunburned and heat stroke!) and then Heidi, Michael and I took Isabel and Danten to see Kungfu Panda and then they slept over. We were all deadheads though because we were so drained from being out in the sun all day. And I didn't feel good because I had sun stroke. We all went to bed early.

On Sunday we had a going away party for them. We invited all our family and friends and had a grand old time. It was fun to have everyone together. Most of our extended family came, there were only a few missing so it was like a big family reunion.

Monday night Gladys wanted to go up in the mountains and have one last smorefest before they left so we bought our smore supplies and went up the canyon only to find out that there were fire restrictions. We decided to go back to mom and dad's and just do it in our fire pit there. It was so much fun (even though I don't like smores). :)


Tuesday night they needed help cleaning their house and finished packing so we went over and cleaned and/or kept the kids occupied. The house looked great when we were done.

Wednesday night was the last night! :( We all kind of just walked about avoiding the inevitable again; saying goodbye. Around 10:30 the kids decided they were ready for bed so we all knew it was time. Daniel had run to the store, but we started our bawling and hugging and kissing and then did it all over again when Daniel got back. Like mom said, this is different than when Daniel went on his mission because we knew he would be back in two years. We don't know when or if they will ever be moving back. I don't know that I have ever seen Kelsey or Michael cry, but they were both bawling. Heidi had the hardest time, she and Daniel are really close and of course she loves the kids. I wish them well in their new adventure, but I am going to miss them terribly. It feels like a piece of our family is missing. They are going to grow up so much and we are going to miss it.

I Love My Family!

Here are some of the family pictures. Thank you Justin from Hamblin Photography (http://www.hamblinphoto.com/)!

Weddings and the East Coast

Well, John is gone and I miss his face already! We chatted for about 30 mins. last night and he is going good. He said it's good to be home, be with his fam. He has his first show in five years tonight. I am sure it will awesome, as his shows always are.

Last night I went to my friend Jenna's wedding. She is gorgeous and made a beautiful bride. They had a sweet ceremy and then we basically partied for the next four hours. Their photographer, Ryan Christensen (http://www.innovativephotography.net/), set up a "studio" and took funny, goofy pictures of all the guests. We had so much fun thinking of things to do.

I wish Jenna and Jeremy the best, they are such a cute couple and incredible people.

Tonight we are getting family pictures done before Daniel and Gladys move. We are using a photographer we have never heard of before, but found him on the internet and his portfolio looks great. We will see how it goes! I'll post pics as soon as I have them.

A Fun Weekend and a Hard Father's Day

What a weekend! On Friday we took my niece, Isabel and nephew, Danten, to the zoo. It was so much fun. I love the zoo and they love the zoo, so fun was had for everyone. After the zoo we went and picked up some pizzas and went to Memory Grove, ate pizza and played in the stream. It was so beautiful and relaxing. I love spending time with my family.

Saturday we went to lunch with John Allred! :) Heidi and Kelsey almost didn't go because they thought is would be awkward, but they did go. I wasn't even worried about it. This is the normally the last thing I would do, ask a guy to lunch and not even be nervous about it! I was just excited. I just wanted to sit down and talk to John the person, not Allred the musician, and get to know him better. I had all these questions I wanted to ask him to keep the conversation going. I didn't need to worry about it! John talked the entire time, for 2 hours! We would ask him a question and he would just go off. No complaints here, I could have listened to him all day.

That night we went to his last show in Utah for a couple of months. He is moving to the East Coast and won't be back for awhile. It was a great show as usual, but not without it's hiccups. Partway through his first song they blew a fuse so he ended up having everyone come up close, even on the stage so he could just play acoustic. It was very intimate and fun. After a few songs they got the power back on, somewhat. He still couldn't do everything he usually does, but it turned out great. He didn't end until about 11:00 or so and then we waited around til everyone was gone to say good bye. I am going to miss him!

This is turning into one long post! Yesterday was Father's Day. It was a great day, but it was also hard. My brother Daniel and his family are moving to Virginia next week. We gave my dad a present and a card, both very sentimental, and he cried, so we all cried. We gave Daniel just a card, and he was bawling, so we were all bawling. I was crying because he is moving and I am going to miss him and Gladys and the kids so much. It was a good day though, spening it with the family and making more memories!

Tonight I am meeting John to give him some more stickers. We get to see him one last time before he moves! :)

Life is Good!

Last night my sisters and I went to a concert at Thanksgiving Point. This artist we love, John Allred (www.myspace.com/allred), was opening for Secondhand Serenade. It was so good!! John is always amazing.

My mom and I have vinyl cutting machines that we love to play around on. I am planning on starting a business in the next 6 months doing vinyl window stickers and decorative glass blocks. Another friends of ours, Justin, is in a band called Pleasant Tree (www.myspace.com/pleasanttree) and Heidi decided that we should make them window stickers for their cars. We did and they turned out great, they now order them from us occasionally.

Heidi made a window sticker for Allred and we showed it to him a couple months back. He loved them and asked us for more. We took him some last night to sell at his show. I was so excited to see him and nervous (yes, I do have a little crush on him...ok, I am a little obsessed with him) that my hands were shaking!

This morning I asked him how many he sold that night and he said all but three and wants more! :) I told him I would make him a deal..if he goes to dinner with my sisters and I we wouldn't charge him for this bunch of stickers! He said ok!!! :) I am so excited to just have John to ourselves and to pick his brain and get to know him more! We are all going to lunch on Saturday. I can't believe I actually asked him! :P

Losin' It!

I have decided that I am going to lose 75 pounds by May 20th, 2009! :o) I want to look good and feel good and be able to do the things I want to do. I am going to Europe again next summer and want to be in great shape for that.

I started last Wednesday on a 30-day program (www.isagenix.com) with Isagenix, a great detox and diet program, and walking 20 minutes a day. I weighed in yesterday and measured myself and have lost 7 pounds and an inch everywhere! Yahoo!!!

I will keep you posted on my progress!