Fun times with Friends

For Emily's birthday this year we headed up to Lava Hot Springs. What a fun time we had. It was pretty chilly, considering it was still the end of May, but we girls don't let weather stand in our way of a good time.

Dixi was able to rent a Hummer for us to take up and enjoy the luxury of an SUV, I will admit it was very fun:) After much delay we were able to get up there around noon and enjoy some lunch from the little grocery store. Then we got a 4 person tube (which is the only way to go I've decided) and headed down the river. It was so much fun, I'd never been before so I didn't know which areas of the river were "scary" but the other girls all knew and warned me. But being on the 4 person tube we never tipped out and it wasn't bad at all.





















I love my friends, we always have such a fun time. I've been thinking alot lately about my good friends and how lucky I am to have them. Each posses unique and individual qualities. We are a pretty well rounded group, probably if you know each of us it may surprise you that we are all SUCH GOOD FRIENDS. We are so different, but that's what I think keeps us friends.

Amy- has always been like my big sister, caring and looks out for me, great mom to her son, forgiving, trust worthy, FUNNY!! adventure-seeker
Dana- truly sweet spirit, hates to be negative, loves to be active and have a good time, very hard worker, a go-getter
Deb- would give her right arm for anyone, sweetest personality, never gives up, dreams big
Dixi- my favorite quality about Dixi is that she always talks with so much love and appreciation for her mom, she's got a good heart who really tries to do nice things for everyone, loves to have fun, willing to try just about anything
Emily- never known a more family oriented person, loves to laugh and be silly, very smart, can make anyone smile (no matter what kind of mood they are in), enjoys life
Jesika- outgoing, fun, non-judgemental, the person who will call just to check on ya and make sure you're ok, always laughing and looking for a fun time
Krissie- always smiling, so positive and it's hard to beat her down, very caring and cautious mom who always puts her kids first, loves her family and would do anything for them
Maria- great listener with good advice, honest, loves everyone no matter who they are or where they come from, always has her friends' back
Stephanie- most sarcastic person ever (it is hilarious), a great friend who looks at situations from all sides before making any decisions or judgements, friend who will always stick up for you and never let anyone say anything negative regarding you

See I'm pretty lucky to have such great friends...Love you all and thanks so much for being there:)

My all time favorite thing about summer....

More than ice cream, more than the warmth of the sun, more than fun at the water park....and almost more than hearing the birds sing I love LOVE boating. It has been one of my favorite things ever. Growing up we always had a boat. We've spent many vacations lake side. There was a time when boating scared me, I was SO afraid we'd tip over or something and I remember praying inside the little cubby to let us just be safe. LOL.

But now I just love boating. It's so relaxing and enjoyable to me, probably because I'm just along for a good time and never have to do anything...but I really do enjoy it!!

Over Memorial day my parents decided to take the boat out. I was so excited, and Little Princess was right there on the same excitement level as I was. Soon enough, we'll have Little Man onboard too.

It was Little Man's first time boating ever. He did awesome. Poor little thing was all squished up in those big life jackets, but he just smiled as the wind blew in his face. The water was too cold for me to even think about getting in, so we just enjoyed our ride over the waves inside the boat.

Ahhh, I can't wait to go again!

Giving Sales a Shot

So it has been a rough economy on nearly everyone. If you haven't lost your job, you've heard of someone losing there's and there's probably a twinge of fear of the possibility that you will eventually lose yours. I was "laid off", voluntarily, from my job back in November. It came at a good time for me, I had just had the baby and was planning on taking 2 months leave anyways.

But then about a week before Lover Boy and I got married, he was slowly being laid off from his job. They would just send him home after about an hour (actually he was really lucky if he could get an hour in) of working. We figured it was ok with the wedding coming up and his family being in town and afterwards he could just look diligently for something new and better. ..Somewhere in our thoughts we must've forgotten that he'd been looking and applying for new jobs daily for the past 6 months...Lol.

After a few weeks of nothing, and I mean nothing, not even McD's or other fast food places, my brother Kevin had gone out of state to sale alarm systems and convinced Lover Boy to go out there and do it. The potential amount of money you can make is unbelievable, and with a personality such as Lover Boy's we knew he'd be a success. We also figured, there was nothing to lose. He hadn't had an income for about 5 weeks; he didn't have to fork out money (besides his plane ticket to get out there, which was extremely cheap) and we were getting pretty desperate. Our savings was slowly dwindling and like I said there was no one getting back to him about any other jobs.

Fortunately during this time, I was able to go back to my old job for 2 days a week. This was a bitter sweet job opportunity for our family. We had just become a "legal" family just weeks prior and so to part with that was a little heartbreaking for all of us. Little Princess suffers from separation anxiety and it was becoming quite obvious that she was struggling and not understanding the whole picture. She asked many times IF he was going to come back, and what if he doesn't. The comment that just broke my little heart was "but mommy, I love joe and I want you guys to stay married, he makes you happy and me happy, what will we do without him?" We had many many discussions about what was happening and that he was just going to work and live with Aunt Angela for a little while and that we were going to go visit him when mommy could a few days off work.

Well, the day finally came for Lover Boy to go. We couldn't think of something spectacular to do for his last day here (he's just so simple and fine with sitting at home doing absolutely nothing, and plus we were a little short on money to get out and do something really fun.) So we just played at home for the morning and much of the afternoon, then we drove to Salt Lake and took the kids to play in the fountain at the Gate Way. It was so much fun to watch all the kids anticipating the water spraying out of the holes beneath their feet. Little Princess loved it after she warmed up to the idea. Little man loved it instantly. After about 30 minutes we had 2 kids that were just soaked but loving every minute of it. We sat and just enjoyed our afternoon together.




Lover Boy was only out doing sales for a week. He got a sale in his first 2 hours on his first day. The rest of the week was a bit rough, but they say that's how it goes until you get into your groove and to not be discouraged. But exactly one week after he'd arrived he called and said that he was coming home. It had been terribly hard on him being away from our family. He was supposed to be paid, and didn't get it and that frustrated him; maybe if he didn't have a family he was trying to support he'd have been ok with just waiting for the pay to come in however there were quite a few guys out there who hadn't received compensation for a few weeks. He wasn't fond of the selling techniques used by the "successful" salesman. All of this combined for him and he decided that it just wasn't worth it. We were excited to have him come home and the next few days took forever just waiting and waiting for the time to pick him up from the airport.

You know, I'll be honest for a bit. I was a little sad to hear that he was coming home, only because that meant that we would be right back where we started....with no prospects!
But at the same time, his talking to me and telling me the reasons that he hated it so badly out there has made me respect and admire him all that much more. He has more integrity than I ever thought. He loves our family and we mean more to him than any of us realized. He really does want to support us and take care of us and will find a way.

We love you and are so happy to have you home with us.