Christmas in Utah

Our whole family met in Utah this year for Christmas. Since my brother, sister-in-law and sister live there now, and Josh and I are in CA, it was easier for my parents to come out west. We had a blast (among many things) snow shoeing, going to Temple Square to see the lights, eating at Tucanos, playing guitar hero and trying to drive in the constant blizzard that was happened while we where there!
Here we are playing on BYU campus- it was fun to see Heidi there and have it be her campus now!

Heidi was really scared of the snow plows on campus- they drive fast!

We got to see my good friends Sarah and Erin & Ryan (and see baby Jack of course). We decided that if I wanted to steal Jack, everyone would believe that he was my baby and not Erin's because of his bright red hair and blue eyes.

Yay for friends! I was so happy that I got to see them.


Playing guitar hero- and Murphy's playing stance (what the heck!)
Our snow couple (they were anatomically correct- only on their upper halves) :)

I did home made Christmas presents this year- they turned out really cute and I was proud of them!

While we staying in Farmington with my Aunt and Uncle, we went snow showing- it was a blast and so beautiful!



Lookin' tough.

Sledding with Murphy, Jylare and Heidi. We also celebrated Josh's birthday while we were with family. I made a "better than Robert Redford cake" and it was a huge hit. Josh got new scriptures that he has been wanting and we had home made empanadas for dinner- success!


Phew! That was a lot of pictures to post! But it's been a while, and I felt like I needed to do a major update! Plus, we had the best time- I have an awesome family and I wanted to share them with you! And just for fun, I made this video of a few of our adventures :) I'm not actually in it, it's silly, but I enjoy it thoroughly! The stars are Josh, my mom, Heidi, Jylare and Murphy.

Answered Prayers

I got offered a job yesterday. It was kind of incredible how the stars aligned and everything just fell into place. I think Heavenly Father knew that I could not take it one more day. It was really kind of incredible. We are so excited! And another great thing is that they don't want me to start until the week after Christmas- I was so worried that if I got a job, they would want me to start immediately and I would be able to go to Utah to see my family. But it all worked out. We feel really blessed. Thank you for your prayers - they definitely helped. I will be working at River Oak Center for Children as one of their out patient clinicians. In other words, I get to do therapy with kids and their families. I actually get to use my skills from grad school- miracle of miracles! I don't have to fold clothes at the gap or learn how to make coffee at Starbucks! So this is a grateful post- I am beyond grateful for how many things we are blessed with. The Lord really is mindful of each of us. I just needed a little reminder :) Merry Christmas! 

Lately

Life had been pretty frustrating lately. I am still looking for a job. Which is never a fun thing, especially when the economy is the way it is. It makes finding a job pretty much impossible. I always thought that getting a masters degree would make finding a job easier. Not so much in fact. I had this whole plan in my head of how our life was going to go. Graduate- find amazing job, put Josh through school, Josh graduates and gets amazing job, I get licensed and maybe start private practice, start having kids bibbity bobbity boo! It turns out that life doesn't go how you plan it- ever. I'm not sure why I didn't remember this fact. You would think that with all of the twists and turns and 180's my life has taken, I would be well versed in the complexities and un-concreteness of life. Instead I find myself getting more and more frustrated and losing faith very quickly. I always have said that things happen for a reason. When I look back on the past few years, I can see the Lord's hand guiding my life so deliberately- and right now I just kind of feel alone out in the middle of nowhere. I would like some firm guidance now...please...please? I am sure that in a few years I will look back on these few months and say- well of course! I needed that time for this and this and this. It just doesn't feel so good right now. I am trying to keep the faith, and sometimes it's really hard to. It's like this thing one of my professors used to say - "yes, and" commenting on the duality of feelings. Feeling more than one thing at a time. Yes I am trying to keep the faith and it's really hard and I feel like giving up. Anyway- not to get all deep and depressing on the blog. Maybe it's the music Starbucks is playing at the moment... Just send a little prayer, thought, positive energy, whatever, my way. I could use it.

camping part deux

Here are some more pictures of us camping. I was all about reading by the campfire. I think I read three books that week. It was great!


Hiking in Zion:

.....and I guess I wont be posting any of these pictures. For some reason Blogger wont post them! It takes forever and ever and never finishes loading. That little icon just twirls around and around and never finishes. So sorry about that... This whole thing makes me even more aggravated with blogging than normal. Can't it just be easy? It used to be! I think I hate blogger right now.

camping part un

As many of you know from a previous post, we went camping with Josh's family in the mountains of Cedar City, Utah this summer. Here are some pictures of our adventures. This will have to be done in more than one post- because we took a million pictures. So here goes. Our driving experience was... well it was like 12 hours long. Josh was tough while driving- here he is showing me his impressive guns- also the bugs on the windshield- yum!




we got there after dark- and had to set up our brand new never opened tent. If Josh's cousin Cory had not been there, I could not have done it- or maybe I would have started crying. But it looks good right? we got a big-un. We could have had a dance party in there if we had brought a disco ball with us- darn it!

we had a lot of adventures all week- I got to do stuff that I never had before- it was awesome. We went 4-wheeling, off- roading (this was just a girls trip, there was a lot of screaming and almost peeing in pants involved- thanks gina!) Josh also had me learn how to shoot his .22 He keeps it under our bed in case of intruders and wanted me to get used to using it. Let's just say that any intruders better watch themselves because this girl is a straight shooter and now knows her way around a .22 with her eyes closed.



We also went hiking in Zion National Park- it was amazing! and hot! but beautiful and so fun! We went with Josh's cousin Cory and his wife Gina, and Josh's sister Sunny- we had a blast and were reminded of how out of shape we are (ok that was just me- but whatever).
Blogger is being stupid and not letting me upload anymore pics. I will do a second post- part deux!

ok fine

i'm at Starbucks using their internet and feeling generous. so I will update. Please to enjoy some random pics from our adventures this summer- Josh took me the "The Phantom of the Opera" and a Brad Paisley concert (Jewel was there too- she rocked!) we had fun. The end.

Ball and Chain

That's how I feel about our blog at the moment. I don't have internet so figuring out how to post pictures is a real drag. I am at Starbucks right now- PAYING to use their internet. You would think with how many of them there are, and how much they charge for their drinks, you would be able to use the internet for free- but no. So I think until we actually get internet at our place, I will be taking a leave of absence from posting. I know it's a disappointment to all of the 5 people who read this blog, but sorry. I will add more pictures and start blogging again when I feel like it. See ya!