Lake Powell: post #1

Sorry, but no pics in this post. Oh but don't you worry, they will be here soon! Lake Powell was awesome. I am always amazed by the beauty of Lake Powell. Sometimes when I am there I can just imagine a scene in which my Father in Heaven decides to do some artwork. Kind of like if I were looking for something to do one day and just wanted to paint (except that Heavenly Father is a MUCH better artist than myself!). I can imagine him looking down on the earth and using it as his canvas--with a vibrant blue sky, a touch of puffy white clouds, and some streaming sunlight all above a landscape of deep blue water and red rock cliffs. I am so grateful for this life and for all of the many beautiful creations our Father in Heaven has put here for us:)

Trekkin' Along!

Our church youth group went on a pioneer trek this past weekend (a three day re-enactment of the pioneers trek west). The kids were all divided up into families and James and I were lucky enough to get to be "Ma and Pa" for one of the families (our kids were awesome!).

This was a HUGE event. Most everyone who went wore pioneer attire--(I made my own!)--to create a more realistic feeling. We packed our stuff up in a handcart and pulled it through the San Bernadino mountains and let me say that it was not easy! The last day was the hardest with a lot of STEEP hills and really made me think about all of the people who trekked across the west, LDS groups and others, and how hard it must have been for them. It's simply amazing.

These are all of my "daughters":)

My "sons" along with "Pa" and "Grandpa"

The whole family

Keep on trekkin!

Our ward's young women's group had a huge yard sale on Saturday--which went very well by the way--so on Friday night we all got together to start organizing the overwhelming amount of stuff that we had. While sorting through the clothes, found some really great items that we all just HAD to try on. It's amazing how many great clothes you can find at a garage sale! And to prove my point, we decided to do a fashion show with some of the best items we found:


Lots of fun trying to zip this up with both of us in it!




Bowls on your head is the new in thing, right?


I actually really liked this vest, It made me feel like Marty McFly:) It goes well with the glasses, don't you think?

Good Times:)

Here's some pics of play-time with my nephews... I thought they would think it was funny if I climbed into their little kiddie tent, and then they decided to join in the fun:)

In defense of Artificial Sweeteners...

My sister-law, Robin put a post on her blog about high fructose corn syrup which has some really good info... (go here: http://robingreenebaker.blogspot.com/).

It got me to thinking about other health issues and I just have to defend aspartame. It gets a bad rap because of some of the other artificial sweeteners out there that HAVE been proven to increase the chances of cancer (i.e. saccharin). Aspartame has had no conclusive studies to show negative effects from it's use. In fact, aspartame is made of 3 ingredients already naturally found in our food sources: aspartic acid, phenylalinine, and methanol. It is not even technically an artificial sweetener... it is an alternate sweetener because of it's naturally found ingredients. The only people that that need to be concerned about the consumption of aspartame are those who have PKU (all babies are now tested for this right when they are born). People with PKU cannot consume excess amounts of phenylalinine and have to monitor their diets very strictly.

I know a lot of people who still want to be catious and avoid aspartame, and that's fine with me, but I'm gonna go ahead and enjoy my diet coke:)

Snow Camping!

That's right, snow camping. We went camping near Zion National park with my sister-in-law and her husband. I didn't know it would be snowing before we got there... luckily we had all brought enough layering items and blankets to stay warm. It was fun, but boy am I glad to be back in my warm bed!

The FIVE Tag

10 years ago:

I'm sure you can all figure out what I was generally up to... 13 years old, boy crazy, of course, and probably annoying to anyone at least 2 years older than me. But in a more specific sense... I had dislocated my elbow the day after Christmas and, as a result, was attending occupational twice a month. This is part of the reason that I would like to become a physical therapist. Anyway, my arm still will not extend completely straight and never will.

5 years ago:

I can't believe it, but it's been 5 years since I graduated from San Pasqual High School. I only had 3 periods of classes my last semester (compared to the regular 6) and had an after school internship at Northrop Grumman. Real exciting stuff--ok, not really:) Most of my time out of school was spent pining after my high school sweetheart who I thought was the bees knees.

5 months ago:

Yay for Christmas! Besides the holidays, my days were pretty much the same as they are now.

5 things on my to-do list:

1. Clean the kitchen ceiling
2. Get an oil change
3. Get a tan
4. Vacuum
5. Work on my puzzle
(it's my day off!)

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Slow-turned ice cream/frozen yogurt
2. Very Vanilla soy milk
3. Sweet and Salty peanut bars
4. My "healthy" blueberry muffins
5. Diet Cola

5 things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:

1. Buy a house and decorate it
2. Put a bunch in savings
3. Go on a serious vacation
4. Get some work done ;)
5. Help out my family

5 of my BAD habits:

1. Leaving my clothes on the floor
2. Procrastinating
3. Speaking before thinking
4. Putting my hair back, then taking it down 5 minutes later, only to put it back up 5 more minutes later
5. Not wearing my retainer

5 places I have lived:

1. My Parents house in Escondido
2. My house in Escondido
3. Provo, Utah
4. Salt Lake City, Utah
5. That's it!

5 jobs I have had:

1. Gromitz (kids clothing store)
2. Bank teller
3. Telemarketer
4. Recreation Leader
5. Waitress

5 things people don't know about me:

1. My husband hunts gophers
2. I'm drinking a diet pepsi right at this very moment
3. I'm the long lost princess of a small kingdom somewhere really cool.... okay, maybe I just wish that:)
4. This question is taking me so long to answer that I've already finished my diet pepsi.
5. I give up.... either my life is an open book so everybody already knows all of my exciting adventures or I am totally boring and don't have any... you pick.

5 people that I tag:

1. Katie Sabin
2. Erin Hoy
3. Heidi Andrews
4. Karlie Draper
5. Anyone else who just wants to!