Da Bears! and the rest of the summer

Well, this summer has been pretty fun! Luke finally passed his Players Ability Test for golf and is now an official member of the PGA! 16 times the charm! For his present for passing I got him tickets to the Bears-Broncos game. He is a huge Bears fan and had never been to a professional game. It was a blast! Especially since the Bears won!! We has awesome seats at the 20 yard line, about 16 rows up. It's amazing how different the games are when you are there watching them! It was like a little kid in a candy store allowed to have whatever he wanted. We cheered till my throat was raw!

This is the picture right before a touch down!!! Go Bears!!!

For labor day weekend we went down to Pagosa Springs to visit Luke's parents. We went down to Navajo lake on the boat and did some water skiing! I have never done it before and it was a blast!! This is a picture of Rocky hiding in the side of the boat. He got a little hot so he was trying to find shade. A few minutes later we threw the pups in the lake to cool off. They have never gone swimming but they were pros! Below is a picture of my Mother-in-law Sue water skiing! She was a pro! We all had such a good time on the lake! We are going to try to go down one more time before it gets to cold to get in the water.

This is Luke and me on the boat. I have to admit we got some good color out on the boat! What a sexy husband I have! Well that's about it for now. I'm sure I'll have some more updates shortly...

Life changes...

So do to my previous episode last week I decided some things needed to change. So I took up running. I've always wanted to do it and have tried but I never seem to follow through. So I have been getting up early and running. It is so excilerating to plug in my ipod and just pound the pavement! My boss runs in a marine marathon every year in DC. I would love to someday run in that. I know I have to run a year before I can start training for a marathon so I'll have to keep on it. I just think it would be an awesome goal to acomplish.

So apparently I am more stressed out then I thought I was. It is amazing how your body will shut down when things are just not going right in your life. I have been trying to get pregnant for some time now. On Friday night my sister told us all that she is pregnant. I'm not going to lie, I was furious, and in total conflict. I wanted to be happy for my sister, but at that same time I was so angry at her for getting pregnant so quickly and easily. On Wednesday I basically had a nervous break down. I sat on the floor of my bathroom and screamed at the top of my lungs for like 5 minutes. I just couldn't stop. Scared the crap out of my husband. He didn't know what to do. So he called my parents. I basically had a full blown panic attack. I've never had one so I ddin't know what was happening to me. It is amazing what difference a blessing can make. My dad came over and gave me one. I felt so much more peaceful and like I could handle the world after that. I told my friend what happened and she couldn't believe it. She said I am the most calm and collected person she knows so if that happened to me I must be under stress. At this point all I can do is laugh about it and thank God I didn't freak out at work. That would have been extremely embarrasing. It's hard to believe that sometimes your body knows yourself moreso that your head does. My mom told me this has happened to other family members of mine when they get stressed out and can't handle life. It is comforting to know that I have so many people on my side. My mom put me name in several temples. I am extremely blessed to have such a great family. My husband especially. I don't know what I would do without them. I feel very blessed in my life.

Garden update...

The top of a Texas Sweet Onion. I have pulled a few (because I am extremely inpatient) and cooked with them. They are the sweetest tasting onions I have ever had!

A baby acorn squash. I planted acorn squash last year and only got two. This year there are over ten baby squash plants out there and they just keep on growing!

Foxy tries to help me weed. She eats the tops of the plants. She would get lost in the squash. Some of the leaves are bigger then she is!

These are baby vine cherry tomatoes. They are going to be tasty when they are done. I have to give these away I can't eat them fast enough. Last year I grew yellow pear tomatoes and had over 150 tomatoes!

This is a garden salsa pepper. They are pretty spicy but they make the best salsa! Just make sure and seed them really well and you won't have to spicy of salsa!

This is an anheim pepper. They are really good stuffed or made into chille rellonos. Yumm!

I like to grow pickling cucumbers. They are small and are ready quickly. They also have the sweetest flavor when they are fresh. I put them on everything. They are good on tacos, in pesto pasta, on salad, in slaw, and of course to make pickles out of!

The sweet peas are growing so tall! They have out grown the stakes I put in for them. They are right next to the corn, which they tower over! I'm so excited to have fresh corn this year!

This is a head of romaine lettuce. I have been periodically picking lettuce off of it, so at this point it is about 3 feet tall. This lettuce is so vibrantly green, crisp, and buttery tasting. I almost can't go back to eating store bought lettuce, it basically has no flavor compared to this home grown version. (I chopped this off and made salad out of it right after I took this picture with some teriyaki chicken, strawberries, and slivered almonds, Yummm)!!

My squash is taking over!! We have had so much rain here this year my garden has exploded! I have three different squash plants (butternut, acorn, and pumpkin) in there but it looks like one big jumbled mess of plants. My pumpkin plant is over 15 feet long from one pumpkin to another (so probably longer if I measured end to end)! You can barely tell, but there is cilantro and onions barried under there somewhere.

I went golfing for the first time with my husband yesterday. After being married for almost 4 years you would think that I would have gone before. I actually played way better than I thought I would. I didn't realize how sore I would be the next day! My hands hurt and so does my lower back! I told Luke we have to go the driving range so I can build up those muscles. It's amazing how stress relieving it is to wack a ball! I had so much fun. I have gone with Luke several times to the course, but usually I just drive the cart. It is so much fun watching him tee off. He always wiggles his butt to get into position which is my favorite part! It was a lot more fun to actually play though!!

The joy of my life (right now)...

I absolutely love gardening. It's so exciting to be able to go out into my yard, pick some veggies, and cook them up. The flavor of fresh fruit and veggies is so amazing. Pictured here I have purple eggplant flowers, baby snap pea flowers, baby zuchini, baby tomatoes, and the garden itself. Right now the weeds are taking over. I swear I weed everyday and they grow faster than I can pull them! I love playing in the dirt, and now I have an excuse!

Today would have been my oldest brother's 30th birthday. I miss him. It is hard to believe he will never be that age. He will never get to enjoy the joy of growing old. Not on this earth anyway...maybe in another life. Today has been a day for mixed emotions. I am happy that my brother gave his life for something that he truly and utterly believed in. But I am angry that he was taken so young. When I was 20 I thought my brother was so wise at 25 and knew what he wanted out of life. Now I am 25 and realize my brother had barely lived. Granted the life he did live was always full of laughter and joy. He had a few hard spots along the way, but everyone I have talked to that knows Doug has nothing but kind things to say. Doug wasn't the nicest of brothers at all times. He was my older brother after all, and there was plenty of brotherly 'love' thrown my way. It was really hard for me to get over my brothers death. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of during that time. As any normal person would. I felt robbed. I felt robbed of the Doug other people knew. The Doug I knew wasn't the easiest to live with. I felt robbed and angry and remorseful that I didn't tell him all the things I wanted to tell him before he died. That we weren't able to become the best friends I always knew we would be. Now I realize not many people do get to say all those things to those who are gone. Death isn't something I had ever had to handle before. All of my grandparents are living, and I've never really known anyone close to me to die. This was an incredibly hard thing to go through, but at least I'm stronger for it. Anyway...I guess I'm rambling. My point was today my brother would have been 30, and I miss him. The last picture is a poem from his funeral. It is such a beautiful poem I thought I would post it here. Freedom is not free. I have learned that the hard way. I don't take my life for granted. I have come to the conclusion that if there is something you don't like about yourself, or you life nobody can change it but you. And enjoy every minute of it while your getting there. I love my brother. Happy Birthday bro, I hope it was great!

I swear pregnancy tests are the bane of my existence. Over the last two years I've probably taken 40 pregnancy tests and they all say the same thing! I swear Luke and I will never get pregnant! That's not true I know it will happen. I just feel like it's been so long since we started trying. Everyone I know is pregnant. It's so frustrating! It's ok though, at least it's exciting knowing it will happen someday!

Libby Langdon's Small Space Solutions ISBN-10: 1599214245; ISBN-13: 978-1599214245 is my favorite new design book. It has the best ideas on how to decorate in smaller spaces. She has a lot of really great ideas. For example I would never have thought to use a wine rack that hangs on the wall as a magazine rack for the bathroom. I love the colors she uses in this book.

Another really great book to check out is Judith Miller'sBook of Color ISBN-10: 0609607847; ISBN-13: 978-0609607848. This book groups together color in periods and shows you what colors really work well together and gives the colors in paint you can actually afford! This book just has some really great color combinations and ideas!

I found this awesome dress at a little boutique in Durango. I really liked the pattern and it matches my back room. So, I thought of a great way to incorporate it into the room. My husband works for a print shop at our school and he can do up to an 11 x 17 photo. I am going to take different angles of this pattern (it also has a little red attached to the bottom I'll take a picture later and upload it) and have Luke print it out in 11 x 11 and frame it in black 12 x 12 frames with a one inch mat. I'll probably do like 6 of them and hang them above my bed as a pseudo headboard until we eventually buy a new bed. The back room is almost finally done! I'm really glad cause I'm tired of living in disarray!

This last weekend Luke and I went to Luke's hometown, Pagosa Springs, for a golf tournament. One of Luke's really good friends was killed in a car accident their senior year of high school. Lauren's parents have a scholarship fund that is funded by the golf course. Luke has played all but one year for the last seven years but has never won. Well he won this weekend!! I am so proud of Luke...and doesn't he look sexy swingin' that club!!

The most amazing thing happened to me last week. I came home and my entire front yard had been relandscaped! My Aunt, grandma, mom, best friend and her boyfriend, sister and her husband spent the whole day redoing my yard as a surprise to me! My yard is beautiful. I have such a great family to do this for me! I can't believe how different it looks. I wish I had some before and after pics but unfortunately (or not) I only have the after pics!!

This is my Aunt Angie that staid with me for the wedding. It was so nice to have family come to town! I just wish more family would come visit!

I have the cutest niece and nephew. These were taken at Arianna's 3rd birthday party. She loved every gift she got and said wow to almost everyone. She is very talkative and tells you all about her day. I also included a picture of my grandparents, my dad, my brother, and my nephew. Talk about a generational picture!

My little brother is married. The bride was beautiful and the wedding went off with almost no hitches. As usual the wedding started late. Can't fault tradition :) Everyone looked beautiful in there dresses. Melody's mom made the wedding dress and the Maid of Honors dress. They were all gorgeous! The flower girls didn't drop any flower petals. It was pretty funny. I've never seen my brother look so happy!! My aunt Angie got to stay with me and I have had a fabulous time with her. It is so nice to be able to have a house that I can invite people to stay at. I've just remodeled my back room and once I get the new couch I will take a few pics. Anyway, the food was really good, home made tamales and green chili soup, rotisserie chicken and the list goes on. People danced and it was a great time. They got everything from blankets to throwing knives as presents. Melody grabbed the knives before Tim could get to them. (Tim you better watch out you married one tough broad!!) It was extremely fun. I just love weddings!

I can't believe Tim is married!! I'm so excited about his wife! She is an amazing person! These are just a few of the photos...more will be coming!

I've been pretty stressed out lately between the new job and my friend that is having a lot of problems...I guess just life in general. My friend went missing at the beginning of this week. She was supposed to be at my house on Sunday morning. She didn't get here and I didn't hear from her all day. I didn't hear from her on Monday either. I was getting frantic. On Tuesday her cell phone started going straight to voicemail rather than ringing. I tracked down her sister on Wednesday and she hadn't heard from her either. I was really worried, it's not like her to not call me. I finally started calling the state troopers of every state that she had passed through. I found her. She was stuck in Wyoming without the ability to call people. I finally got to talk to her and I have never heard someone sound so found. She didn't know how to get a hold of me as her cell phone was no longer working. I have never been so frantic in my life to get a hold of someone. I was so happy when I found her. I've never been so stressed in my life. I've also never been so elated to find someone. She just kept saying you found me, you found me, I can't believe you found me! That's been my week.

It's weird learning new things. I've never been one really to share like that before. I just really don't think that many people read my blog. I found this really awesome quote on emotions:

"Emotions are usually contagious. Even if your emotions change, the other person is likely to be reacting to an emotion long after it has passed. Empower your no, negative power is the power to punish the other, positive power is the power to protect and advance your interests and needs. To uncover you needs, listen to your emotions. Emotions have intelligence, they are the language used by your core. Your core needs to signal that your needs are not being met. If we listen rather than react to emotions, we can benefit greatly."

I think I was reacting to my emotions rather than listening to them. It's what you do when your down that makes you who you are.

Family

I love my family! I found this picture amongst some old photos. This is us about 2 years ago. Luke's hair is never this long anymore. Sometimes I miss the long hair!

My best friend Dona and me in California! I had such a blast!

Memorial Day

Yesterday was memorial day observed. Memorial day really had no meaning to me until about 5 years ago. My brother was KIA on October 20, 2004 in Al Anbar provence in Iraq. It was an extremely hard and painful thing to go through. I recently went on a business trip to Florida. On the plane ride back there were many soldiers returning for the weekend. The flight attendent requested everyone to clap for the veterans which is the least that could be done. When the soldiers got off the plane there were many families waiting to hold there loved ones for the first time in a long time. This particular soldier ran the minute he saw his family and scooped up his little boy in a giant bear hug. The little boy just giggled and laughed. It was heart wrenching and probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I miss Doug. He and I had a very love hate relationship. We were either the best of friends or couldn't be in the same room as each other. We didn't end it very well...we were in the hate stage of our relationship. You never really realize how short life is until something is ripped from your life and you know you will never get it back in this life time. I love my brother very much and I hope he realizes how much he is missed down here.