Thank you!

To all of you that commented with some post ideas and suggestions in the previous post, Thank You!!!  And thanks for making yourself known. :)  Just in case you are wondering, I think I had 32 reads of that post, and 6 comments.  So......you lurkers and non-commenters (you know who you are, and I wish I did too)....anyone else that wants to add an idea that didn't previously, feel free!

I'm taking all your ideas under consideration, and over the next few weeks, you'll see it!  I'm realistic enough to know that there's no way I'll get them done over the next few days.

Especially the photography ones.....if there is something I have discovered about myself, it is that I don't take pictures in the winter.  It must be my manifestation of the Seasonal Affective Disorder. ;)  I just don't pick my camera up much.  But we'll see, maybe it'll help the sun shine in my brain.

Choose

I've seen on a number of blogs I read that the lovely women who write them have chosen a "word" as a new years resolution of sorts. A word they want to work on, and strive to focus on in the next year. I thought about trying to come up with one, and was always coming up with a blank. Until I watched this video. It sealed the deal. My word for the year is CHOOSE.

Round-up Part 3, or, Celebrating our 10th

As noted in an earlier post, Ron and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in August. We'd been talking for a while about going away somewhere to mark the occasion....places like Hawaii, Cancun, Bahamas, and even Peru were mentioned. Alas, because we have the responsibility of young children that need to be cared for, those locales will be saved for a later time. :) So instead, we decided to take a quick weekend trip to California. We made our final destination San Diego when we found out that one of the touring companies of "Wicked" was playing there. I have been wanting to see "Wicked" for years, but it just hadn't happened, and when it was in SLC earlier this year, there were no tickets to be had.

We flew in Friday morning, picked up our car, and made our way to San Diego(we flew into Long Beach). We went to the Newport Beach Temple and walked around the grounds as it was closed for maintenance. We had a hotel in Old Town San Diego, so that evening we strolled around there. Went to where the new and improved remodeled Mormon Batallion visitors center is....now I need to plan another trip back down in January to check it out when it reopens! That night we saw Harry Potter 6......yeah, it takes us a while to see movies! The next day was our "Wicked" matinee. It was better than I ever could've dreamed! So well acted and sung by all the players. I never expected it to be so funny, and yet I (of course) cried at the end. I could have sat through another performance right then. :) Too bad they kicked us out! That night we enjoyed fabulous Old Town mexican food, and then walked along Mission Beach at sunset. Sunday was spent driving back up the coast as we had an early flight out on Monday morning. We stopped off at a couple of beaches and enjoyed the tide pools and waves. That evening was dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company...I've never eaten so many shrimp in one sitting! The weekend was fabulous, so relaxing, and a wonderful way to reconnect with each other....we haven't spent that many days with just each other since our honeymoon, and it was so refreshing to just be able to talk to each other without the constant interruption of our (wonderful) kids.

Mission Beach



Aliso Beach

Round-up, Part 2.....

We ended July and began August with the dreaded 20th High School Reunion. But any fears I had were quickly erased with all the fun I experienced that weekend. What a fun time to see and reconnect with old friends, some of which I hadn't seen since graduation. Lots of laughter, and it felt like we all just picked up where we left off 20 years ago. It was amazing to get the 30+ of us that went to the same elementary school all the way through HS together at the reunion for a picture. Lot's of laughter, and just a very good feeling of friendship. These are all the people that we went through the ugliest, zittiest, most immature, and some of the BEST years of growing up with - of course we are still friends!



We also got a visit from Riley's Grandma Judi in August. It had been a few years since we had seen Judi, so the kids were very excited to meet her again, and it was fun for Riley to reconnect with her Grandmother again. During her time here we visited the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, went up to Park City, and got a lot of school clothes shopping done. Riley and Judi took off one day and got most of Riley's done then. On the way home from Park City, we went to Cascade Springs. I tried to get some pictures of the two of them together.....apparently, when you get two people together that don't like their pictures taken, it's hard to get some winners, but I managed to get a couple!



You can definitely tell they are related, can't you?! I was surprised at how much I thought Riley has started to look like her grandmother.

The rest of us were there too:



**If any of you are wondering what is up with the collages....I playing around with the wonder that is Picasa3....I now need to try and figure out how to print some of these out!**

Ten Years

Today marks my and Ron's 10th wedding anniversary! Wow! Congrats to us. :)



Ten years ago today, my dreams came true. I married the man I love, in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, surrounded and supported by people I love.



One home purchased and moved into. One career placed on the backburner by me for a later time. Three different career/position changes for Ron. Eight cars. Four motorcycles. Putting in a yard. Finishing a basement. Kitchen remodel. Painting. Furniture changes. Three beautiful babies welcomed into our family. Three baby blessings. One baptism. Temple blessings. One goodbye to a parent. Vacations. Disney. Colorado. Arizona. Laughter. Tears. Joy. Happiness. Best friends.

Will You Marry Me?

Ten years ago today, on the grounds of the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple, I heard these words. I was in shock! Especially with the diamond ring that was staring at blinding me. ;) Ron will claim that he waited 5 minutes for me to answer and had to ask me again, but he is very impatient...it was only about 20 seconds before he said, "Well...." But obviously, the answer was YES! Sheesh, I'd had so many surprises that day, gimme a chance to think!

Ron and I had been long-distance "dating" since mid-February. We met on-line *gasp*, with him in Houston and me in Utah. He had been to Utah twice, and I had been to Texas twice......with lots of email and long-distance phone calls in between!

Ron knew I was planning a visit to my sister in Arizona in April, so he secretly contacted her and planned a little surprise. So on April 23rd, 1999, my sister picked me up from the airport, we dropped my things off at her house and headed to Haji-Babba's (middle eastern food) for lunch. After we sat down, Beth's cell phone rang. She answered it, then handed it to me. It was Ron. He made a little small talk, then told me to turn around...to see him walking in! Needless to say, I was shocked.

Later that afternoon, he said he wanted to go see the Mesa Temple. You'd think I would've been smart enough to figure out something was up, but no. As we were sitting by the North side reflecting pool, he pulled the ring out and popped the question. I think he just wanted to make sure there was a really good reason for him to pick up and move back to Utah.

Even with all the surprises, I am sure glad that he planned it, and it makes it even better that I was proposed to where my parents were married. My brother-in-law Scott took the picture above of us the next day at the temple.

Hooray for us, ten years! I guess I better start planning something good for August and our wedding anniversary. :)