July is OvEr!

(Just a side note, I wrote this about two weeks ago and never got around to adding pictures, which is why it's just making it's appearance today!)Vacation....What exactly does that word mean? It seems to imply a lack of responsibility and a time to rest and relax. Well then, I suppose I have not been on vacation for the last week, rather I have been in a different state with different people. Oh how I love being with my family. I have the best family, really, I do. I have a sister and sister-in-law that I love more then life itself. They are the people that I want to be like. They are patient, kind, humble women that are just trying there best to get through life and raise there kids to know what is important. Sometimes when I'm out in the world I forget what is important. I guess sometimes I lose my focus. My family always reminds me what I need to be doing and what really counts. Maybe that's why I love them so much. On to my so called vacation. Let's just say it was rough. Aside from being with my favorite people, Charlotte had a really, really, really hard time. She wouldn't nap in her pack n play, she started an oh so fun cling to mommy phase, she got her first two teeth which caused her a lot of grief, she came down with an illness and her and Dustin fell down the stairs. (which resulted in mass hysteria on my part) Yeah, lets just say I didn't get any rest or relaxation AT ALL. I think I cried just about everyday, either from frustration or pure exhaustion. The car ride was about what I expected. On our way back we decided to wait until her bed time and drive through the night. That was possibly the only smart thing I did all week. When I finally got home today, I just collapsed on our couch. I missed our condo. I missed the smell of it and the quietness in it. I missed our dogs, and our bed and I even missed the heat. No, I'm kidding. I didn't miss the heat one bit. I love Utah summers! However, when they are freezing there you know whats off this winter, I will be taking long walks in my t-shirt. Ha. I guess Arizona isn't so bad after all.

My thoughts, as of this very second.

I am hot. Again. Do all my posts begin like this lately? We are finally leaving for Utah!! I know, I am lame, I am in love with Utah. You would be too if you had spent an entirely happy childhood living there. I have spend the last week getting ready to go. Isn't that the worst part of vacations? I went to Target innumerable times to get things needed to make the long car ride possible. Wish us luck, Charlotte is still in her I hate my car seat phase. She had better make peace with it real quick, or this is going to be a long two days. My whole morning consisted of cleaning, laundry, cleaning, laundry, packing etc. I have always had this need to have a completely spotless house before going on trips. There is nothing worse then coming home to dirty laundry, smelly old trash, unmade beds and leftovers in the fridge that are growing poisonous fungus. After I finished all this, I rigged up my new curtains. (I'll save talking about those bad boys until I come back) Now I am just sitting here with an hour to spare, waiting for Dustin to come home, contemplating whether or not I should just buy that new pack n play I want. I been checking them out, and I just can't decide. I'm wait another four minutes and then make up my mind. Here's an awesome picture to check out in the mean time.

Dear Dustin, this has been my day...

Today started in the right direction. Up early, shower and ready for the day by 7:30 (and really, isn't a shower half the battle?) Picked up the house, started the laundry ect, ect. Somedays I just feel like I can do it all, those are good days. A nurse came at 8:00 to take my blood. This is where things took a turn south. Needles don't bother me, they never really have. This particular needle however, bothered me a bit. Or should I say this particular nurse. She began by asking if I have a good vein in either arm. Why she asked me this is a mystery, because I told her I had a good one in my right arm and she proceeded to get my left arm ready for the stick. Curious. Is it possible she doesn't know left from right, or more likely that she does this to all patients thinking it's somehow humorous? I could actually see me thinking that was funny if I were her. She proceeds to stick my "vein." It's never a good thing when they say hmmm.... after sticking a sharp foreign object into your body. No blood comes out. Now, either she missed the vein, or I am the walking dead. Neither is out of the realm of possibility. THEN the fun really starts. She starts to fish around inside my arm trying desperately to poke something that will bleed. Success! At this point I have become nauseous, light headed and I'm pretty sure I saw colors in the air that were not there. The first tube is filled and the second is inserted. Two drops of blood and it stops. "Hmmm..." Seriously? Another hmmm. She starts to fish again, this time I know that my breakfast is making it's way in a hurried manner up my esophagus. She finally gives up and says she thinks she has enough blood. I then excuse myself to run gagging to the bathroom, then sit quietly with my head between my legs so that I can remove the cloudiness from my brain. After she left, all ambition for the day left me. I put Char down for a nap and laid in bed until I felt a little better. After a while I got up to eat lunch which consisted of two bowls of ice cream and a baguette which I kept pouring olive oil on out of the bottle. Yeah, that's the kind of day it is now.

Sweatin' Bullets

I stink, it's true. It's 7:55 p.m. The end of a long hot day. It's been the kind of day that makes me dream about Christmas time. I was looking through some recipes earlier (my favorite thing to do!) and I kept drooling over peppermint ice cream and pumpkin pie desserts. I started thinking about Halloween decorations and long walks in the cool evening air. If I can just stay focused on the upcoming fall I might forget that it's nearly 110 degrees and that I stink from going to Costco. In my defense I bought a lot of stuff and had to haul it all to the car, then out of the car, then up a long flight of stairs. As the melted icing on the cake, I just opened my electric bill, ouch. Having this nice cold place to live is costing us a pretty penny. I guess I'd better get back to work collecting aluminum cans off the side of the road. Watch for me, I'll be the one in the orange safety vest. :0)

Char Char's Personality

I love these pictures! They melt my heart. If you like what you see, you can go here and get this very talented lady to take pictures for you! (if you live in the Mesa/Phoenix area) There is nothing better then when a little babies personality can be captured by the camera. My little girl isn't so little anymore.

The Importance of the Journal

Dustin and I put Charlotte down early tonight and we were going to watch a movie together. Well, just as we came in our room, I noticed a pile of old journals that I had just found and had been meaning to put away. Somehow we started reading them and spent the next two hours laughing and cringing at memories of my junior high and high school years. I'm so thankful for journals! Even though I didn't write a lot, I wrote enough to bring back memories. It's funny how significant every little thing seemed when I was younger. I had written stories about friends, family, boyfriends, and my even my animals. Dustin and I just kept laughing every time we read about a new boyfriend, which was about every other week and usually they overlapped each other. He kept remarking that Charlotte was not allowed to date anyone until she turns 20. Oh, the good old days. I wrote about people that I don't remember, could I be that old? I wrote a lot about the Miller family. I wrote about a night that Ryan and I sat in the office of the old Lindon house talking. I don't remember that at all, but he really made an impression on me back then. I wrote about Jessica calling my house at 11:30 at night and getting me grounded for a month. I wrote about Jaime having her gall bladder removed and me playing with little Tyler when he was a baby. I wrote about Logan coming home from his mission and how Jenn and I were friends. I wrote about having a crush on Vance (oh yes! all the girls in the ward did) and how Judy was my best friend. I wrote pages upon pages about Dustin and how we tormented each other for years. It's crazy that this family that had such an impact on me in my youth are now my in-laws. I also read some really funny letters that my best friends wrote me. Michelle and Stephanie. They were my BFF's for a lot of years and we shared some really great times. Steph and I used to sneak over to the Miller's all the time at night and do random things. Once we snuck in there house and turned the t.v. on, and ran away. That doesn't seem very funny now, but I remember how we couldn't stop laughing for days about it. I guess this is getting long and unless you are reminiscing with me, this probably isn't very entertaining for most. Happy Fourth of July.