I got shot today!

Well kinda got shot is more like it I guess. Part of my new job entails getting to help with the agent training. These guys train often so that they will be able to react safely and avoid any casualty while in the field or during a warrant. This past Friday and today they were practicing what's called building entry training. This is where they agents run scenarios set up by the trainers and practice making entry on houses and businesses for search warrants, arrest warrants and under cover agent extractions. Myself and two other support staffers were able to act as role players, i.e. bad guys. So I spend the majority of last Friday and today being yanked out of my seat or hiding spot, dragged away at gun point and then thrown to the ground and arrested. Let me tell you I discovered that I would be a horrible criminal. Even though I know these guys and would (and do) trust many of them with my life when they pound on the door and yell police open up I want to pee my pants. I also have such a better understanding about what my guys go through out there in the scary world of bad guys and boy do I respect how dangerous their job is!
So that brings me to how I got shot today with one of the training guns (they use a paint bullet instead of live ammunition, but whoa doggie does that bad boy hurt!). I was hiding in the closet in a scenario where I ran from them when a shot out began and the good guys were suppose to come find me after the situation had been contained. Well when they opened the door and said hands up I put my hands up but one of the guys was startled by all the commotion that had just taken place (in the scenario one of our agents had been shot and killed) that he reacted and just shot me point blank. It was humorous because the agent who shot me happened to be my boss, but in reality that was the most intense thing I have ever experienced. I can sure tell you all he'll be buying me one major lunch here soon. LOL. All in all I had a great time and am LOVING my new job. I so respect these amazing agents who work so hard to keep the people of this country honest. So my final words are simply support the law enforcement community as you do your country. These guys put themselves into harms way everyday so we can live in freedom. And everyone of them is loved by someone who wants them to come home each night!

Here is a photo of me with some of my tactical gear on. I felt like a puffy marshmallow that could stop bullets . Not a comfortable get up to say the least LOL.

Belly shots!

I was able to take some photos of my friend Natalie's SIL before her baby shower this past Saturday. The weather didn't really work with us and we were a little limited on time so we just took the photos in the backyard. I haven't edited them yet but I just had to show everyone how sweet these two are. You can tell this baby's gonna be loved!

My new feature - You can Cook!

So I decided that I would start a new feature on my blog. I decided that I would pick a recipe a week that I enjoy and photograph the process of making the yummy dish. This week we are starting with my hubby's favorite marbled pumpkin cheesecake. Yummy!

INGREDIENTS

1 package (not box) of cinnamon graham crackers
1/3 cup butter, melted

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup white sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350.

You need to crush the graham crackers. I generally do this in my food processor, but if you've had a bad day or some kids that need to get a little energy out you can put the crackers into a ziplock bag and crush them with the bottom of a heavy glass or rolling pen.

Just blend or beat them until they are very fine

Empty the crushed crackers into a bowl. Pour the melted butter into the crackers.

Mix the two together until they make a crumbly yummy looking mixture. It's best to use a fork for this process.

Turn the cracker mixture into a 9 inch springform pan. Then press them into the bottom and about a half inch up the sides of the pan. This part can get tricky and if you work too fast you will end up bringing chunks of the crust up from the pan. Try to use your finger tips as much as possible starting from the middle and work your way out rotating the pan with your free hand.

Your end product should resemble this.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth.

Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each.

Set aside 1 cup of the mixture.

Blend 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the remaining mixture.

Spread the pumpkin flavored batter into the crust.

Drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top.

Swirl with something thin but blunted at the end to create a marbled effect. I use one of my chopsticks but the handle of a wooden spoon will work just as well. Remember that you are not trying to mix the two layers just create a swirl pattern. Be sure and not go to deep or you will disturb the crust and that will not make for good baking.

Make sure you don't over do the swirling or everything will just blend right together.

Bake 55 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the filling is set. Include a oven safe dish filled with water to help keep the humidity level high. Remember that the filling will still have a little jiggle to it when it's done and will set up to be completely firm after cooling.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan. This is very important as you will end up with cracks on the top of your cheesecake if you don't loosen the edges. Allow to cool before removing pan rim. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. You can serve it with whipped cream on your best china or just eat it out of the pan either way pat yourself on the back cause you just made your first marbled pumpkin cheesecake. Woo Hoo!

My current addiction

This song has been stuck in my head for months. I think we should all talk Amie into learning this one ASAP :-)

And now for something scrappy

Here's what I did at the 2 peas crop last Saturday and this morning with my girls Amie & Nat.

Me as a little girl. Awwwww so cute, what the heck went wrong!

These were my first attempt at some heritage lay outs. These are my maternal grandparents on their wedding day. Yes I distressed some of the photos, no they were not the originals. I made some copy negatives years ago and reproduced the wedding photos so I could have some to scrap. I haven't journaled any of them yet.

On this one I embossed the large flower with gold shimmer. Looks awesome IRL.

My favorite LO so far. I'm gonna journal the story of how my grandmother found her dress.

Snake haters beware

There is a snake in this video, but I laughed so hard when I got this in an email today I had to share.

YYYYEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

People, this is a thing of beauty!!!!!!!!

Today Sep 17 Partly Cloudy 95°/72°

Tue Sep 18 Sunny 97°/74°

Wed Sep 19 Sunny 98°/73°

Thu Sep 20 Mostly Sunny 95°/72°

Fri Sep 21 Partly Cloudy 93°/70°

Sat Sep 22 Partly Cloudy 95°/73°

Sun Sep 23 Partly Cloudy 95°/75°

Mon Sep 24 Cloudy 99°/77°

I'm loving the cooler weather, which means more fall recipes. Stay tuned for a new feature on the blog hopefully coming up this week. Gonna be awesome.

2 Peas and some dinner

So Saturday night was the 2 Peas crop downtown Phoenix at the Hilton. We had such a good time. I’m so glad that I’ve gotten back into scrapping. I always thought that since I don’t have children I would run out of things to scrap, but I been having fun scrapping all sorts of photos from the early years of life.
We all car pooled out to Phx and our night started off with excitement right from the get go. Natalie was making a comment about something she forgot and I thought she said she forgot her photo’s so I say “Oh my gosh Natalie did you forget your photo’s?” to which she tells me that she was talking about something else, but yes now that she thinks about it her photos are sitting on the kitchen counter. That was nothing compared to me telling everyone that I’m taking them to a safe part of town to go to the Circle K for drinks and we pull up right as 3 squad cars pull up because the Circle K had just been hit by beer thieves. Oy!
Then we had to try and find the hotel with the wrong address. The announcement had stated that the Hotel was 10 E Thomas and it was actually 1 E Thomas, only a ten street difference. LOL. We finally arrived an hour after the crop started, but we had so much fun none of it mattered!!!!!!!!!
I got 3 layouts done, one was a double page. I’ll post them tonight. I have like 5 more kits ready and I can’t wait to get it all done.
I just love my girls. We have so much fun together; it’s like being back in those teenage years, but without a curfew. It was awesome to see miss Casey Lu again, super sweet chick! Thanks Jenna and Kelly for the fun at the crop it was great getting to know you and I look forward to the next time! And a huge thanks to my peps Carrie, Amie and Natalie. I just love having ya’ll in my life and I’m so excited for the future. In the words of Amie, YEEHAW!

Sunday was also great. We had a amazing lesson in Relief Society about marriage. It just reaffirmed to me how precious a solid marriage is and how much more I have to work on in mine. I left feeling more empowered that I can make the changes I need to in my own life. Then we went over to the Ives’ house for Sunday dinner with the missionaries. We had a great message shared with us about love. Again great thoughts and so much more I can do to make life more about meaningful relationships then my own selfishness. We had some wonderful conversation over dinner and DJ got to fill up on his kid time. He really is in his element when he gets to hang with the kids. He’s gonna be a great dad if we ever get the chance. We got to stay for family scripture study too, which was awesome! I have never been able to do that with a family and really get to feel the Spirit with the children. It was so cool to get to hear their voices reading the scriptures and instead of only wanting to read a little bit they all just kept going on reading until Heather had to say it was the next persons turn. I can only hope that I can raise my children, if blessed with them, to be so excited for the gospel. Loved it all! Thanks again Ives family. Muuwahh!

Talent

Do you have a talent that brings you joy and fulfilment? I do. In fact I have two (not bragging, just stating facts) and they are wasting away. I'm bursting with desire to be creative and use my gifts but the world just won't let me. Seems every time I get to dust myself off and start going strong I get knocked back down. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This isn't a pity party, instead it's a challenge to let your friends use their talents. And if you have a talent that you haven't shared, break through the silence and tell the world what you're good at so we can help you reach your dreams.

**edit - really not a pity party! I keep finding out about people in my life that have these amazing talents and I have been hearing them say that they feel like no one will let them use their talents. It really makes me sad to see good gifts not being used. Just really want to challenge people to put themselves out there. And while thinking about it all I had realised I was letting the world get in the way of me getting some of my gifts out there. So my final thought - don't let yourself get discouraged, tell the world to back off and share what you have with everyone! Happy Friday!

Done

I swear I have finished Shakespeare, Chaucer, heck even Bronte faster then it took me to get through Twilight! But I'm done. Woo Hoo! I'm tired so I'll leave me literary commentary for tomorrow. There were dark forces working against me while trying to read about the beloved Edward and Bella. Every time I picked up the book the phone or doorbell rang. The first two or three days it was comical then it just got crazy! Seriously 5-6 phone calls and 2-3 people just dropping by between 5 and 9 nightly. I was determined to get this book done before Friday if it killed me! I ended up working until 7pm tonight, left dog tired got 1/4 of the way home and realized Edward was perched on my desk with only 100 pages to go. I pulled over and thought "I know I can call one of the girls to borrow it tonight cause I'm not sleeping until the book is done." Then I decided, nope I'm going back. I actually went back to the office (and high rises are SCARY at 7pm with no lights on) and recovered my precious man to came home with me. We cuddled right into the couch and I opened the book, hovered slightly looking at the phone then dug in. I had left Bella on her way out of Forks and she needed me to get her through this tonight. I finished the last 100 pages in 45 minutes! LOVED IT. So who's lending me the second one..............................................by tomorrow??????????
****edit- I now have any overwhelming desire to watch Van Helsing and Underworld.......... I can almost smell the popcorn.

Chicken and Dumplings

You know how there are those foods that can bring you right back to a memory and every time you make it you find yourself right back there. That’s me and the yummy, creamy goodness of chicken and dumplings. I go right back to cold winter (yes I mean cold like 40 degree cold) nights, pj’s and a Disney movie. This was one of my mom’s best broke food recipes that we enjoyed so much that even after the finances weren’t so scarce we still begged for it yearly. I have adapted her straight from scratch recipe into a crock pot friendly recipe that uses some soups in place of the broth base we use when cooking on the stove top. I will gladly share the stove top version with anyone who wants the recipe. Hope you all enjoy the yummy goodness of this family favorite. Oh and by the way, I’m planning on improving the recipe sharing here on the blog and include photo instructions weekly of my recipes. So if there is something you love and don’t know how to cook or don’t have a recipe for let me know and I will do my best to perfect it and then post it with instructions. So much fun!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

INGREDIENTS
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3 skinless boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons butter
1 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 recipe biscuits, see below (you can also use 1 (10 ounce) package refrigerated biscuit
dough, torn into pieces
½ teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon pepper
Chicken broth
Salt to taste (taste just before adding the biscuits and then add the salt and pepper. Remember that there is salt in the soups, celery and butter so you may not need to add very much.)

DIRECTIONS
Place the chicken, butter, soups, onion, carrots, celery in a slow cooker, and fill with enough chicken broth to just barely cover the chicken.
Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High (or on low for 8-9 hours). About 1 hour before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker, on high. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center. Dish up and enjoy.

Biscuits
2 – cups all purpose flour, unbleached
4 – teaspoons baking powder
1/2 – teaspoon salt
Pinch of garlic
3 – tablespoons grated or shredded cheese, cheddar
2 – tablespoons shortening (you can sub with butter)
3/4 – cup butter milk

Start by mixing and then sifting the dry ingredients. Mix in ceddar cheese. Rub the shortening into the mixture using your fingertips. Next gradually add milk while stirring mixture with a knife. A soft dough will form. Using a couple of spoons drop the dough into the soup. My suggestion when using homemade dough is to dunk them a bit, this can help them from forming a huge dough ball on top of the soup. Also, don’t crowd the pot with biscuit mix, you can bake off the remaining biscuits in a 450 degree oven for 10 -12 minutes and serve with dinner, or save them for some yummy sausage and gravy the next day.

History Lesson

I headed north on Sunday after church to receive my Patriarchal Blessing (absolutely amazing experience, can’t wait to read it again and take it all in, ask me about the truly marvelous thing DJ experienced while I was receiving my blessing). It was a beautiful drive with my mom and hubby. We talked and enjoyed the beautiful desert scenery. The drive took us next to no time so we were very early and decided to just drive a little further out for fun. We passed by this rock monument on the side of the road and being that the three of us are huge history buffs we pulled over and read what it had to say.
It was a monument to those killed in the Wickenburg Massacre. This peaked my interest and I thought I’d research a little bit. Here’s what I found out about what happened.
(most of the following is cited directly from the text of HISTORY OF ARIZONA. Volume VIII published by U of A.)

On November 5, 1871 eight passengers, 7 men and 1 woman, boarded a stagecoach at Wickenburg A. T. (Arizona territory) westbound for Enrenburg. When 9 miles from town, at 8:00 a.m., they were attacked by approximately fifteen Yavapai Indians (sometimes mistakenly called Apache-Mohave Indians) from the Date Creek reservation. Six men, including the driver, were murdered. One male passenger and the only female passenger escaped, though wounded. The surviving female Miss. Shepard died later as a result of her injuries sustained that day. Shortly after the attack and ever since then speculation has been raised that the attack was not the work of Native Indians but that of Mexican bandits, or even Arizonians themselves. Over the two years that followed the massacre General George Crook conducted an investigation into the attack, and finally identified what he believed to be all the participants.

The survivors, Kruger and Miss Sheppard, were confident that the murderers were Apache-Mohaves from the Camp Date Creek Reservation. They had on the blue pants worn by the Reservation Indians and had the gait, appearance and bearing of Apaches during the whole time they were under observation. In addition to this, Captain Meinholdt, of the 3d Cavalry, who had been detailed to find out, if possible, who they were, followed the tracks in the direction of Camp Date Creek. The footprints were round toed, after the manner of the Apaches. On the trail a reservation hunting bag was picked up, and a pack of cards, with the corners cut off, Such as were used by the Apache-Mohaves. He declared in his report to his superior that it was his firm conviction that the murderers were Camp Date Creek Apaches. Furthermore, subsequent to the committal of the murder, two of the Reservation Indians died of gunshot wounds, but whites were not permitted to see them.

The suspicion that had at first been expressed by a few—that the crime might have been committed by Mexican bandits—furnished sufficient grounds for the starting of such a rumor. Thereupon, interested, so-called friends of the Indians, here and elsewhere, seized upon this flaw in some people's judgment for the purpose of making capital out of it, but a number of well-known Wickenburg citizens, who had examined and buried the bodies, as well as followed the trail of the murderers, published over their signatures a letter containing the best of proofs and reasons for asserting that Indians had committed the deed.

The best known and most prominent victim of this deplorable tragedy was Fred W. Loring, who was twenty-two years of age and a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He had graduated from Harvard in 1870, and immediately engaged in the business of journalism in his native city. Early in 1871 he had joined the ‘Wheeler Expedition,’ which he accompanied throughout all its rambles, finally reaching Prescott on his way home. Although a boy in years, Mr. Loring was a mature man in mind, whose name had already become familiar throughout the nation as an author and ‘contributor’ of rare merit. His untimely death created a great sensation in the East and at once the press of New York and New England wheeled into line, and concluded that ‘the Apache must be treated with less Bible, and more sword.’

To this day the massacre at Wickenburg was the largest murder of white settlers in Arizona history.

I found this to be a fascinating bit of history. I invite you to learn more through two resources; one being an online book from the University of Arizona (the last two chapters are devoted to this event and contain both newspaper articles from the time and letters from those who conducted the investigations. Warning this is in textbook format) and the second being a book written just recently by a writer who stumbled on the topic while visiting Wickenburg for a gold rush days event.

jobs, lungs and some chicken & waffles

So Wednesday I went in for the bronchoscopy (don’t know if I spelled that right). It was a horrifying experience. I went in and the nurses poked and prodded me for about 30 minutes. IV’s and swabs and horrible tasting stuff. Then they explain that they will cover my eyes because they are going to be using some saline and other liquid and they wanted to protect my eyes. It think that’s good, watching out for me I feel protected. Then they tell me we’re gonna give you some Demerol (holy cow that’s a lovely drug) and Verset (again spell wrong I’m sure) which is a hypnotic so I’ll be awake but unaware of what’s going on. Well they told me that I would remember them putting the towel over my eyes and then I would wake up in recovery…………..wrong!!!!!!!! I felt and remembered everything after the towel covered my eyes. I felt the scope going down my throat, I felt the saline and then I felt what it feels like to drown as my lungs filled up. I sputtered, coughed and struggled to which the Dr. responded by telling the nurse I needed more Verset (uh duh!) then I don’t remember anything until I was wheeled to recovery. Holy cow let me tell you I thought I knew what panic felt like, but I now know that I have never felt panic until that moment. I also know that I never want to drown, that was a horrible experience!


On a lighter note I have a new food addiction! My boss and some co-workers and I went out to lunch on Thursday. I love when we do that cause they love to eat and having 3 natives in the group who have lived their entire lives in central Phoenix means we go to yummy lesser known places. I often get treated to Long Wong’s wings, Oregano’s Pizza, Rito’s, Juan’s, Guadalajara, La Tolteca, China Chile, Yins, Crazy Jim’s, Pete’s Fish and Chips of the list could go on and on. I’m seeing here why I have not lost any weight this year, hmmmmmmmm. So Sunday night while eating dinner with friends we broke into a discussion about favorite food places. I was told about LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles. Well low and behold guess where we went to lunch yesterday. Oh my goodness can I please say we had such a good time. My boss was raised in Detroit and as soon as we sat down in the yellow room with the head thumping R&B music and the intoxicating aroma of succulent and delicious soul food he slipped right back into the hood. It was too funny to see him talking like he was back home rather then a respected federal agent we all started to pick it up by the time out food got to us. The food was unreal, they most yummy chicken I’ve had in a long time and if you go and don’t get the mac n’ cheese you’ve just wasted the meal. We all had a great time looking at the photos and signatures on the wall, and we about busted a gut at the hand written sign informing us to Watch Yo Step on the way out. We checked out the website when we got back to the office, here’s a little history on LoLo’s:

“Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles is owned by Larry "Lo-Lo" White, the grandson of Mrs. White, the owner of Phoenix landmark Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe. Larry started preparing chicken and waffles outside Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe in 1997 to earn extra money. Mrs. White taught him well. It's not uncommon to hear customers say Lo-Los's fried chicken is the very best they've ever had. Lo-Lo opened his own restaurant five years ago in the summer of 2002. Since Lo-Lo's has been open they've offered catering service for the likes of the Arizona Cardinals, Angie Stone, Mary J. Blige, Anthony Hamilton, The Whispers, Snoop Dogg, Allen Iverson, Steve Francis and members of the Chicago Cubs.
Food critics call Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles the best soul food restaurant in the Valley.
And Larry "Lo-Lo" White's fried chicken and golden brown waffles back up those claims. The amiable family restaurant has been celebrated in publications from the Arizona Republic to the Food & Life dining guide. Many consider the most popular dish to be KK's number one: three fried chicken pieces, two waffles, two cheese-covered eggs, onions, and a side of grits. However, save room for the delicious Sandy Sand's Red Velvet Cake. This small hole-in-the-wall restaurant serves chicken and waffles all day, but Lo-Lo's also offers Southern favorites such as catfish, chicken gizzards, collard greens, grits, and the cheesiest macaroni in town.”

Let me tell you, anytime you are down here in Phoenix and hungry call me I will gladly accompany you to LoLo’s for some absolutely marvelous chicken and waffles!

Lastly………………………………I got the promotion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t even have to interview, woo hoo! I should start the 17th but there is a chance that I will have to wait until the 1st of October is they make me drug test again. I’m super excited to get this new position. I will have credentials and now can go into the field to conduct interviews, serve subpoenas and summons, assist with surveillance and search warrants. I can’t wait! This is gonna be so much fun! Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Woo Hoo!

Hahahahaha

It's a darn good thing I'm not home more often, otherwise you'd all be subject to things like this........................ laughed my butt off!

It may still be 110 degrees outside

But in my California raised head September means it's Autumn people. And that means cooler weather, apple cider, pumpkin patches, school supplies and hearty soups. Here is one of my favorite soups that tastes great but won't have you in the kitchen for hours since it is still summer here.

Minestrone

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 potatoes, peeled and cubed (or 2 potatoes and 2 rutabagas)
5 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
12 ounces frozen peas
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 or 2 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, depends on your love of tomatoes
7 (14 ounce) cans vegetable and or chicken/beef broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, zucchini, peas and garlic into pot. Mix in tomato paste, beans, tomatoes and broth. Season with basil, oregano and salt. Cook and stir 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
2. Mix macaroni into pot. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until macaroni is tender.

Goes great with some hot white bread or rolls. Freezes beautifully.

This goes under the catagory of what the, huh, that's kinda cool

I found this completely by accident, but it had me memorized so I thought I would share.

Cool stuff and a project

I just had a way cool experience and had to share. I'm preparing for my Patriarchal Blessing on Sunday and today Brother Young called me to confirm and informed me that he wanted to ask me a question. He then proceeded to ask me about a situation in my life that has been on my mind for a long time. I answered in the affirmative and he then shared a comment with me that made me actually have to sit down. I will share it with any of you in person but it's not going on the world wide web. I was totally over come after the conversation, it was amazing!

Also to the girls who love to alter things I have a project. We got a 6 drawer long style dresser that we don't really have a need for in our bedroom and it won't fit in our guest room so it's going in the scrap crafty room. I get to paint and alter it. Anyone wanna help????????? I'm thinking about painting it and altering the front of the drawers. Gonna be fun!

What a weekend!

Just have to share about my super awesome weekend. Hold onto your britches this may be a long one.

Friday night: DJ called and told me at about 1pm that he was getting off at 4pm so we could hang out together. Woo-hoo. Told him that I had a crop with the girls that night but they would understand if I was a little late. So go to the grocery store and some home to the hot house where I don't really feel like cooking but oh well we gotta eat right? We had been expecting Shawn Haught to stop by since he was made our home teacher again and he just found out on the night of the 30th, and he really wanted to visit us before months end. Well Friday was months end lol. So just as I'm beginning to pull stuff out for dinner DJ calls Shawn to find out his ETA. Next thing I hear we're going to dinner with the Haught's and the Pressley's. Supper cool!. We went and tried out a little Mexican place about 5 minutes away and had a great time. Then back to the Haught's for our lesson. So amazing! Shawn shared with us some principles that were amazing. We discussed how there have been so many times that Heavenly Father could have just fixed things for man but because of our gift of agency and the fact that he is a just God if there is something that can be done of man then it must be done by man. Shawn obviously explained that better then me but none the less it was an amazing lesson. Then Shawn and TJ left to Globe and DJ and I got to go hang a bit with Summer and Jaime. Supper fun, we played a little dominoes and gabbed a bit. Then it was time to say adieu and I was off to the crop. I got there at 10pm and there were still 7 ladies at Amie's house. I got my card stuff out and started to play. We had such an great time all chatting and looking at each others work (I'm a dork and left my camera at home, you'll have to check out Amie's blog to see what she did, love the snowflake LO). We took turns holding the newborn baby that was there with her momma. Oh she was so yummy to hold, just snuggled right it (can you tell yet I didn't get much done on my cards?) About 12:30 people started to drift out and the remaining deviants grabbed some ice cream sandwiches and headed to the couches. We had so much fun talking about Edward from the Twilight series, and our favorite TV shows and ex boyfriends and Funyuns and Anne of Green Gables and movies and actors and babies (get the picture? we like to talk :-). Next thing we knew it was 3am! Holy cow! But it was a great talk, thanks Amie, Carrie and Natalie!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday: Robyn came over with her friend Ron to visit our dog Roxi who use to be they're dog Roxi. It was great to see the both of them and hang out for a while. Then I worked on cards and watched a bunch of movies all day. Loved every minute of it! I decided to try a new card on for size using transparencies instead of card stock. I stamped flowers in yellow, it's really cute. You'll have to talk to me about card club to see it hehehe. I had just got a ton of movies from the library and watched an bunch of my favorites like, Riding in Cars With Boys, The Devil Wears Prada, Bridget Jones Diary and Along Came Polly. It was a thoroughly relaxing day!

Sunday: We ran off to church at 10 am. It was fast and Testimony meeting. I love to hear all the sweet Testimonies, it really strengthens my love for the families in my ward. I always feel closer to people after hearing their love for the Lord and their families. Such a good meeting. Then we had a great Sunday School lesson on Exaltation, followed by a very moving lesson in Relief Society. We left church all energized and happy!
Ran home and started cooking for Sunday night dinner at the Pressley's. We were bringing my red curry chicken to the feast. I had so much fun with DJ cooking. I love to cook with him because we get to share some great talks while we cook. It's that time just for us. Love it. Then after we finished we went over to the Pressley's and met up with the Haught's and the Chowdhury's. Oh my goodness we ate so much yummy food. Carrie brought Thai green beans, so good. Summer made a salad with this dressing she gets from a restaurant close to her work called Flo's, it's this yummy ginger miso dressing that I could and did use as a dipping sauce. Oh so yummy. Then we topped it off with Pumpkin pie, which means Fall is right around the corner, WOO-HOO my favorite time of year. We had a long talk about our favorite restaurants and food. It was a great time!
Then at 6pm we broke and got ready for the Fireside DJ and I were talking at that night. We ran picked up the missionaries and drove out to Peoria. It was a great experience, my second Fireside talk and DJ's first. Can I please just take a minute and say that my husband amazed me when he spoke. For those of you who knew DJ from back in CA you would probably agree with me that the thought of him public speaking would create visions of a nervous man who most likely would have fainted at the door. Well he spoke first and was calm cool and did a great job. He shared his Testimony and his conversion story and it was so neat to see him and how much he has grown in these past few months. Love him! I did pretty good, didn't cry until the end this time :-) I figure though that the day I don't cry I need to work on stuff since that's one of the ways that the Spirit moves me. I also got to see my Sister Barlow! I love that girl more then chocolate cake. She's the most amazing chick on the planet. I got up and started talking and then looked out and saw her smiling face, my heart skipped a second cause it's been a year since I've seen her and I really bonded to her when she was here. Got to hug her like 10 times then she had to go back to the work.
After we took the missionaries home we all ran and changed then ran back to the Pressley's for some game time. So much fun! TJ made yummy hot wings and we stayed up talking and playing games until quarter to midnight. Holy Cow so much stinkin fun.

I have to say that I just love having all these amazing people in our lives right now. Both DJ and I finally feel like we have a home and while we miss our CA friends daily we really feel like we have blossomed into our AZ family here. We are so thankful to everyone who loves us for us and we are so looking forward to the future with our friends!!!!!!

Card Club - Crazy Cool

Thursday night was our card club meeting. It's been quite a while since I've been to one since I missed June and July we skip due to vacations. It was good to be back. I just love this group of women, we always have a super fun time! And for everyone who is reading and crafty (and I know and have seen several of you at your crafty-est) please feel free to tag along one night. We meet the 4th Thursday of each month and someones house. You bring 15-20 (depending on how big the group is, we usually figure it out at the meeting each month for the next club) of the same card. Then we all get to make a card while we are there, exchange with each other so when you leave you have 15-20 different cards. Oh and there is usually dessert too. Yummmmm. If you are interested let me know and I'll fill you in on the next shin-dig!

Pretty cards! Mine were the pink and black ones.

When you arrive it is a must to go see what goodies have been set out for the night's card.

Then the hostess will explain the card to us all before turning us loos on the pile of goodies. So here Genna is talking with us about the stamp options for our card.

Then we go to town cutting and tying.....

stamping and stamping........

and stamping and stamping....

Oh and there is always some talking going on.

But we never break our focus on the fun!

Oh and there is always a precious little one there to snuggle with in case you finish your card first. This is Mia, Genna's youngest. She just turned one and isn't she yummy!

So if you're interested some on down some time. Don't feel like you don't make fancy enough cards because we have all different levels of card clubbers and everyone loves free goodies. So drop me a line if you're interested!