Missing the rain

After a quick phone call from my mother, I decided to go to AZ. What is it about mothers? They almost always know the perfect things to say.  It helped that one of those things was, "we got the AC fixed".

I was able to surprise my grandparents at their 60th wedding anniversary party. It was great and I'm so glad I got to do that!! I'm here at my parents house now. We have been playing lots of games, I've been visiting family and friends. I even went camping with my parents and sister.

Pulling a camp trailer, my dad drove us in his SUV for 3 hours to get to the camp site. When we finally got there we were the only ones around. There were lots of trees (they smelled really good) and birds and ants and flies. There were dried up creeks and streams. I could tell it used to be really pretty there. My sister said it looked like a totally different place than last time they were there.

So much of AZ is dry, dusty, brown and hot right now. Even worse than I remember. I haven't been here during the summer since I moved away seven years ago and I don't think I'll be back again. It hasn't rained in months and it needs it bad.

The camp site was in the mountains, but it was still about 95 degrees during the day. The wind would blow a bit and it was almost bearable in the shade but still fried some of our brain cells and made it hard to play games that required a lot of concentration.

When the night came and it was drastically better. The temperature went down and tons and tons of stars filled the sky. Stars always get me. I love them. And I've never seen them better than I have looking up into an AZ sky.

We stayed for two nights and decided to go home early. Camping just isn't want it used to be. It was nice to go though. It's been about 10 years and now I know I still like it, as long as it's not too hot.

I love spending time with my family here in AZ, but I don't miss the state. It used to hold such a large part of my heart but that is almost all faded now. I love NC so much and I miss it. I miss my house and my husband.  As sad as it will be to say goodbye in 11 more days, I'm looking forward to my green state and rain. I do miss the rain.

Visiting

My little sister has been visiting Hubs and I for the last few weeks. It's been great. I love having her here! I've been working so she's had lots of down time but she likes to read so I think it's been okay for her (we even took her to several book stores to restock).

This Friday we are both headed to the airport. She's going home and I'm going with her. I'm going to surprise my grandparents by showing up at their 60th anniversary party (shhhh, don't tell!!).

I'm excited... except.... my mom just told us the AC at their house is broken. They live in AZ so it's hot. I hate being hot. Sigh. Also, Hubs is staying here. I HATE being without him and will miss him terribly. Another sigh. Like, a really huge one.

I go back and forth in mind mind as to whether or not I'm going to actually get on that plane and go through with it. As much as I want to go, I don't want to leave. If that makes any sense. Ultimately I'm sure I'll go and I'll have a great time.

I'll get to see and spend time with my grandparents, see my cute little niece and other family members I haven't seen for awhile. It will be good. My husband will survive without me. I won't melt in the heat (I'm not a witch, most of the time). Yeah. I think I'll go.... maybe.

I love our house!

I haven't had much to say lately. I can only write, "I love our house!" so many times. I feel like anyone who reads this blog are sick of hearing about it. :)

But... I love our house!! We've been here for over a month now and it's already my favorite house I've ever lived in (besides the home I grew up in, nothing will ever compare to the wonderful loving environment my parents created for us in that home).

We've painted the entryway, living room, and kitchen a nice light grey. The dinning room is a darker grey and my office sports stripes of white, greens and gold. You can get a peak into my office if you read this post that I published on my business blog. The colors are pretty random in there, I was inspired by some frames I found at Khols.

Speaking of my business blog, if you clicked over for a peak did you notice the new blog/website design? I changed it a few weeks ago and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Nearly as much as our house (well, not really but it's in second place behind it). The navy and pink combine in my mind to make purple. Purple is my favorite color.

If you are in need of some graphic design (logo, web, blog, illustration, print, ect.) please contact me using this super cute page of the newly redesigned website! I would love to work with you. Or anyone you know for that matter. Pass us on please!!

Insight for the Future

I was reading a post from this awesome blog I follow and it gave me some great insight for the future.

One day I will have kids and one day I will disappoint them and let them down. I will be upset at myself for this. I will probably cry and wish for a redo button. But IT WILL BE OKAY. Really, it will be. Although I will try my best to be an awesome mom I know I will make a lot of mistakes. It's human nature. And thank goodness. Because with every mistake I make I will get an opportunity to teach them. To direct them above. I will make sure that they know what I believe so strongly: Heavenly Father is always there. He is the perfect parent and He will never let them down or disappoint them. I will teach them that His time is different than ours and that answers don't always come the way we want them too but His answers will always come. No matter what. I will teach them to go to Him. In times of happiness and in times of sadness. He will comfort them, He will make it better, even when I can't.

Anticipation

Anticipation slows time to a stop, or so it seems. You see, my sister, my clever, smart, silly, amazing, sweet as honey sister, is coming to visit us here in NC for the summer.

THRILLED!!!!! Does not begin to describe it.

Can you believe a teenager, in these days and times, would choose to visit ME for the summer? The plane ticket is her graduation gift. Instead of books or cd's or money or whatever else she could have gotten, she choose to come see me.

I think she likes me. Which is good cause I'm rather fond of her too.

She gets here in eight weeks and it's seeming like forever. But I am so happy in anticipation at the same time. I hope she likes it here as much as I do. :)

One week from tomorrow

My AZ Christmas trip was fantastic! Celebrating the birth of our Savior is always great and I just love spending time with my family. They really are THE BEST. :) Plus, I caught up with a couple friends too, which was fun!

The day I was to fly back home I got a call from Hubs informing me he was in the hospital. His heart was acting up again so they gave him some meds and let him out shortly after. All this heart trouble is so scary. But I'm grateful it hasn't been any worse than it has. And I was very grateful it happened on my last vaca day instead of the first; I was actually able to enjoy 2 weeks without worrying about anything - love that!

Since I've been home I've been busy taking care of Hubs of course, catching up on work (DreamUp Studios) and cleaning/packing. It sucks to be back in reality world. That or I'm just incredibly spoiled. Probably the later.

We found a nice town home to live in for the next year up in North Carolina. We've only seen pictures of it, and not that many, but our Realtor saw it in person and assured us that it's nice. We'll see. I'm very anxious to check it out and praying that it has good vibes and quite neighbors.

Do you realize how many boxes it takes to pack up a three bedroom house? A LOT!  I'm actually all out, so off to the store I go to get some more. One week from tomorrow and we'll be on our way to our new digs.

Hope everyone has a super great holiday season!!

Untill next time

I haven't posted in awhile and I miss it so I'm posting now even though I feel like it's been too long and no one is out there listening anymore. This time the blogging break was partly because I've been lazy and partly because I've been busy.

You see, last month I worked really hard to get my husband healthy (okay I left that up to the Lord but it worked pretty well) finish up all my ongoing projects with work and to clean every inch of the house. Why you may ask? Because my family came to visit!!

I was so so excited for them to come. It's been about 6 months since I've seen them and over a year since my Husband has. They had obviously never seen our new house (yeah that line was a little random) and missed us too!

Having them here was as great as I anticipated it would be! Hubs didn't even get annoyed or jealous (I tend to spend every second with them when we are together and he gets a little neglected). It was wonderful having more life and spirit in our home.

We went to Universal Studios, the beach, shopping, eat food, played games - we had a blast! On top of that I enlisted my parents to help us around the house. My dad fixed my car, put furniture together and installed ceiling fans and light fixtures. My mom (and even my sister) cooked, helped us paint the kitchen & downstairs bath (a pretty green) and the upstairs master bedroom (a pretty blue/grey), hang pictures and arrange nick-knacks on top of our kitchen cabinets (it looks fantastic)!

Although I felt guilty asking them to do it they willing did and the joy on my dad's face when you crossed off his to-do list was priceless. I feel so blessed every time I think of them and look at the work they did and remember the fun we had.

I can't wait till next time we can be together.

Help me choose a guest design?!

UPDATE: And the WINNER IS???? #2. Thanks everyone for your input!!

I can't think about our new house without my mind wondering to decor. How am I going to decorate it?? For the most part we are using everything we already have (red couches, dark wood, slate blue, brown and moss-dark greens). But that still leaves one bedroom and bath completely empty. These rooms will be for guests till we have kids, then we will add a nursery (classic Winnie-The-Pooh) to the bedroom.

Empty doesn't work for me so I wasted all day yesterday trying to figure it out and I ended up with 4 different looks. Hubs likes #2 and 3 but says it's my choice and I keep going back and forth. Can you look at them and help me decide???? Here they are (everything is from Walmart, Target, Ikea or Kirkland's - trying to keep the price as low as possible):

We don't really care about having it match the rest of our house. We just want something that will make us smile when we see it, and something our guests will feel comfortable in.

Which, of the four options, should I choose??

I was in Heaven...

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Photo Credit: Blessed Little Family Photography

One of our good friends had a beautiful baby boy last week. They posted some pictures on facebook and Hubs and I looked at them together. When viewing one in which the baby had a confused look Hubs said as though talking for the baby, ""I was in Heaven, now I'm here. What's going on?"

It made me laugh and cry happy tears. I've always known that babies come from Heaven and I've heard mothers talk about the marvel of it many times. But when my lovely husband spoke those words, so casually, it was 'real'. When we are blessed with a child I want to remember that it just came from Heaven. I want to give it the best life possible and teach it all about where it came from.

Looking for a house - part one

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My husband and I are looking for a house. We are currently renting and it's getting old. We need a bigger place, a place of our own. Since house prices are so low right now it's the perfect time for us to buy. The only problem is finding the right house and mostly finding the right area.

In our church we have what we call wards, basically the group of people we go to church with every week. The ward we are in depends on the location of our home. Make sense?

Right now we are in a really great ward. We have grown to love the people in our ward and have made many friends. So of course we would like to stay in our ward and have been looking for houses within the ward boundaries.

Here comes the problem - there are very few areas within our ward boundariesthat we would consider living in (there is a lot of crime here in Orlando). This makes house hunting HARD!


So hard that we are starting to consider moving outside our ward. There are a few places closer to my husband's work that look nice, plus it would mean less travel for him (his round-trip commute is currently 2 hour) which would be nice.

But we would have to go to a new ward. New people to get to know. New friends to make. What if we don't like any of the new people? Is it worth the risk??

So I ask, what would you do? Should we stick to only houses we can find in our ward or should we look closer to Hub's work???

Craving Cheetos

My brother got married last November and I was lucky enough to visit for the event. It was a lovely time, I enjoyed every second of it (except that trip to Costco, but that's another story). The night before the wedding, my family and I prepared the food, decor ect. for the reception that was to follow the ceremony.

While we were preparing, my brother, the one to be wed, and his soon to be bride made a trip to a store to pick up some supplies we were lacking. They returned with a big bag of Cheetoes. They were the best Cheetos I had every tasted.

I've been craving those Cheetos ALL WEEK!! Want to share a bag with me?