Time to Par-tay!!!

Q: What do you do when you suddenly find yourself jobless, temporarily homeless, and without any commitments in the near future?


A: You go on vacation of course!!! Luckily for us our family lives in beautiful Monterey where we'll have this view everyday for the next three weeks.Ever since we arrived life has been one big party. First of all we had a belated birthday party for Huntley complete with party hats and a cake fight.

Huntley loves her new princess car. Although she doesn't really like to ride it but runs around the house pushing it. She looks just like a little old lady with a shopping cart!

Next we had Nick and Misty's beach wedding. Of course it had to be on the only non sunny day we've had so far. The fog was thick enough that it felt like you were sitting in water. Not only that but when Chris and I arrived early to put some finishing touches on the chairs this is what we saw:

The chairs for the wedding on the right and a bunch of high school students having a huge jump rope competition on the left. I was freaking out and feeling really bad for poor Misty but luckily by the time the wedding started they had cleared out.

This was our view of Huntley the whole night. I didn't realize how much of a social butterfly she was until I watched her walking around and talking to everyone the whole night. She had more pictures taken of her than the bride, what can I say she was definitley adorable in her little wedding dress and ruby red slippers.

Our Last Day on the Mountain

Isn't it funny how life can change in a week!!! I can't believe only a week ago I was enjoying a relaxing Sunday on my mountain and now one week later it's completely turned 360 on me. Now I'm living back in the city, a poor college student, and really close to my mom. She likes to joke that we had to have something pretty drastic happen to us for that to happen. Yeah she jokes about it but it is the truth. I definitley never would have planned this for my life so this past week has really been a strength to my testimony that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me.

As I've reflected on everything that has happened this past week I'm positive for the future. Although I'm really going to miss life on the mountain I'm trying to focus on the new journey our lives can take. A week ago I figured I'd be living on the mountain at least for another 5 years but now life is an open book. I definitley am the type of person who likes to have every part of life planned out down to the last detail but I guess I'm supposed to learn that no matter how much I want to control things I can't always do it. So now I've got my seat belt buckled and I'll just hold on for the ride.

A year ago Today

This was me exactly one year ago: I was working on meeting her:

Although technically Huntley's birthday isn't until tomorrow, I still think of today as the day she joined our family and I'm so glad she did. I love you Huntley and can't wait to celebrate one whole year with you!

Blessings

Things I am grateful for:

1. A wonderful husband who will always take care of me and make me laugh.
2. The chance to be a mother to a beautiful almost one year old and all that she has taught me in the past year.
3. Family, who when it comes down to it is, really all you have in life and I'm so glad I have the families I have.
4. Friends that are always willing to help me out when times are hard.
5. A living prophet who guides and directs us. I know if I follow his council then when hard times come I'll be prepared.
6. My testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and that families are forever!!!
7. An older brother who paid for my sins and is always there to help me through life.
8. Prayer and always getting answers to it.
9. The ability to have a good cry and afterwards feel so much better.
10. Life and all of the experiences it brings me.

New

This is Huntley's new painting for her room. It was painted by my soon-to-be new sister-in-law Kenzie. We love the painting and we love Kenzie too!

We also got a new swingset on the mountain. Huntley wasn't so sure about the swing but she loved the slide.

Camping.....Or Not

This summer I had great plans of going camping all of the time. Since we already live in the mountains how hard could it be. We borrowed my parents trailer because I thought it sounded a little easier than using our tent. The plan was to park the trailer not too far from our house and then when ever we had days off we would just go spend them camping. Well Chris's trips were pretty sporadic this past week so we decided to camp. We took the trailer about 20 minutes from our house and we were set. The first night Chris had fire training so after spending a few hours hiking we went back home so he could go to training and I got Huntley bathed and fed. Well fire training went longer than expected and by the time he got home Huntley had been in bed for over an hour, no camping that night.



The next day we got up and headed back out. We had a great day but night was different. A huge storm came through where we actually got snow. We also discovered that the trailer roof has a leak directly above the bed and soon everything was soaking wet. No camping that night.



So the next night we made another attempt. We borrowed our friend's camper and off we went. As we got to the campsite we found out someone was already there. On our drive back on the bumpy road the straps holding the camper in the back of the truck broke and it about fell out. It took us half an hour to drive a mile back to the main road. I was still determined to go camping but since dirt roads were not an option we ended up at Greendale campground. Yes that's right for all of you who know this area, Greendale is the campground with the lovely view of my house. I know I'm lame but it made it easy for walking home to get the $15 campground fee. Oh well we finally went camping.

Who's the best wife in the world?

That would definitley be me!!! Now when it comes to being the best wife I'm actually just normal. I make dinner, some of the time. I clean the house, or at least keep it from being a disaster. I keep Huntley alive, fed, and clothed, most of the time. So going by those standards I'm not the best wife in the world. What makes me the best wife in the world? The fact that I allowed this to be hung on my bedroom wall!!! I really really really do not like this pig! But I do like the crazy guy who shot it!

Here is my crazy mountain goat hubby on his latest adventure. No Huntley and I did not tag along on this one. Someday when she can carry a pack instead of riding in one.