Other Things We've Been Up To

Mikkele and I got to go to the Desert Start Playhouse last weekend with my awesome Mother and Father-in-law.We got to see "Welcome Back Potter: Harry and Hermione's 10 year Reunion". It was, as always, super fun and made us laugh a lot!

Mikkele got to meet a bunch of the actors after the play was over and even got their autographs.

This lady was tagged as the "Most Pregnet" by Mikkele! She really is expecting and they were able to write her pregnancy into the play.

This lady was tagged as Mikkele's "Favorite" and I think that this dude was tagged as "Craziest".

The playhouse has lots of fun little things out in the lobby area to keep kids busy.

Like an outhouse, for instance.

Here's Kell just before the play started.

Some more of the actors afterward.




We had to try the outhouse.

Mikkele took a while.

Look how cute we are!

I got to go to the Hogle Zoo with some of my former Young Women, Cali and Kaitlyn. This little trip has been in the works for a long time. Kaitlyn and I were talking a few years ago about how we're lame because we had never been to the zoo. So, we decided earlier this year that we were going to go and we stuck to it!

Cali trying to be like the turkey and Kaitlyn wondering why I keep taking pictures of them.

Gotta have a pic with the drinking fountain!

I just wanted to bite his nose off.

And then Albert and I took a last minute trip to California with Jeff and Jenna, Julie and Kirk and their cute kids. We went to South Carlsbad Beach and had a blast!

Here's Brin, Brooke and Carson chillin in the sand.

Even though we went in July and we were in Cali, it was a pretty cold weekend. So we found Albert a new super suit that was on sale.

He is one HOT specimen!

Jenna got stung by a stingray.

No, for real!

And what a trooper she was. I would have been in tears and she didn't even let one squeeze out.

I want to be Jenna when I grow up.

Brin, Cannon and Brooke.

Albert and Kirk body boarding.

Sweet little Chloe. I bet she had sand in her pants for days!

We built some sand castles.

Got to relax a lot.

We were able to camp just up from the beach. We were pretty excited about this campground because we were really close to the bathrooms. Score!

Again...

This man is HOT!!!

Oh, how cute!

Jenna and I drove Albert and Jeff nuts on the drive down blowing up these bubble things!

We may or may not have gotten a little high from the fumes.

Over Memorial Day, we went to Moab with Jeff and Jenna. We went 4-wheeling, mountain biking (I biffed it pretty good once and Jeff biffed it twice. That's why I don't mountain bike.), golfing, hiking, took some cool drives and ate some really good food!

We hiked to Landscape Arch in Arches National Park.

And we hiked to Delicate Arch.

And we caught lizzards with dental floss.

No, for real.

I had no idea you could do that, but leave it to Albert to know all the best ways to catch lizzards.

And we drove out to a spot where there is petrified wood.

One of the lizzards Albert kept as a pet for a while.

Albert and I 4-wheeled out to Pritchett Arch.

And I think this one is called Picture Frame Arch. I forgot to put sunscreen on this day and fried my arms pretty good. You would think after so many years of bad sunburns I would learn, but that's not such the case.

Albert on his 4-wheeler. What a babe!

And let's not forget Girl's Camp!

Yes, I got to go to camp again this year with my new ward. We had so much fun! Our new ward is awesome and we really like it, but it is very different from our last one. We were in 3rd ward for 7 1/2 years and this has been a big adjustment, but we are loving 11th ward!

We had a limbo competition and I did pretty good, but I am definitely not as flexible as I used to be.

The girls did a funny little dance thing and they felt the need to give me war so I could look like them.

I like your beard.

This was my group for the challenge course.

L to R

Katie, Sara, Mikalyn, Natalie, Rachel (on the ground), Brinley, Mikayla, Alyssa (standing), Valani, Kym, and Kaylee.

The other group.

L to R

Karlee, Hillary, Kaylie, anna, Makell, Mallory, Kaeli, Brooklyn, Emily, Misty, Darci, and Kamilla.

Here we are on our super fun hike around the Heber Valley Camp just before we got to the lake.

All in all, camp was lots of fun this year and great so that I could get to know a lot of people in my new ward. What awesome leaders and girls!!! I'm sure I'll be back next year.

Just for the record: This camp marked my 6th straight year at Girl's Camp as a leader and 14th year overall (I went 8 times as a teenager)! And I'm sure there's many more great years to come. I know camping with a whole mess of teenage girls doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to most people, but I love it! Drama? Tears? Crazy hair and make up? Making a total fool of myself for their entertainment? Lots of work?

Bring it on.

The Hole - Finished.

PSHHH... Yah.

Like, 7 months ago.

You're all gonna have to get over the fact that I'm not a good blogger.

Mmkay?

Anyway, here's a bunch of pix and they're not in any order because blogger sucks and won't let me rearrange the order of the picutres.

So, these first two are the most recent pix. We got our front yard put in about 2 weeks ago and we're loving it! Especially Moki - he was rolling around in the sod when the dudes were laying it down.

This was a few days before we moved in when it was brand-newly finished.

So, this is the larger half of our bonus room unfinished.

Albert and our friend Jarom got the basement all sheetrocked so that our blow-in insulation wouldn't fall out. Albert is turning into quite the handyman!

While we were painting the bonus room we got a little crazy with the paint. Can you believe all the craziness? I mean, geez.

Moki liked helping us paint and stuff.
Well, mostly he was just in the way, but he liked to think he was helping.

What a hottie.
'Nuff said.

The outside of The Hole all finished.
I have some super cute giant pots with flowers on the front porch now to make it even cuter!

The first item to be placed lovingly in the new fridge.
Of course. :)
What else did you expect?

The new fridge.

The front room looking into the kitchen. This was the day before we closed, I think.

Our front room looking toward the front door.

My pantry door.
It says "Pantry"!!!
And it has pix of food on it!!!
Love it.

My beautiful kitchen.
Absolutely LOVE my cabinets!

Another view of the cabinets and the fridge.
I do have a stove in that empty space now too!
It's a gas range and I love it, too.

Well, that's about it. I would post pix of all the cute decorations I've put up, but I really don't have a lot of decor up at all. Cause I'm lame, that's why. But I'll be working on that here soon when I get done with school.

Phase I Complete

I got a message on my voicemail from my dear sister yesterday that went something like this...

"Hello? Alisha? This is Mother Earth calling you. Are you still alive? Please check in and let Earth know if you survived the weekend."

Yes, we are still alive. Yes, we got all moved out of our (now) old house this weekend. I finally finished cleaning yesterday - 5 1/2 hours later - and we turned the keys over to our awesome renters.

Yes, we are now living with some good friends and just waiting out the last few weeks until The Hole is all finished - they are painting right now. Yes, my back has not stopped killing me for the last 2 weeks from lifting boxes and other stuff. Yes, again, we survived.

And YES, I am exhausted.

Oh, and I finished my stupid Community Health Nursing class. SO glad to be rid of that beast. Now I'm in statistics. Heaven help me - you know how I suck at math.

Dear White Tile in my bathroom,

Just so you know, I will NOT miss you when we move out tomorrow. Not even a little. Your pastiness and my dark brown hair just don't mesh well in terms of cleanliness. I pretty much hate you and will be happy to get rid of you.

And to whoever (or should it be whomever?) decided putting white tile anywhere was a good idea,

You were wrong.
It sucks and NEVER looks clean.

You likey my new background? Got sick of the old one.

It's a love-hate kind of thing...

Moving...

This little word strikes fear into the hearts of most people. Not me. Not right now because I'm ready. I've been ready for a while to move and get into The Hole.

But that doesn't mean that this is an entirely pleasant experience. There are things you forget about moving that you rediscover during the process. Things like...

- Finding out how much CRAP you have acquired over the last however long you've been in your place.

- Realizing that you think you're keeping a clean home, but then remembering that "Oh yah. I guess I haven't actually move that couch for about 3 years. Hmm... That's gross."

- Remembering how physically painful it is to lift all that heavy stuff - and then going up and/or down stairs while carrying that heavy stuff.

- Seeing how empty your place looks after taking all your junk out.

Of course, call me crazy or whatever, but I think the pros outweigh the cons. Some pros like...

- Purging. Getting rid of a whole gob of (again) CRAP that you've been holding onto for no apparent reason. This is probably my favorite part. I LOVE de-junking my life.

- Getting everything really clean after you move all the stuff out of the way.

- The excitement of starting something new - starting a new home, new area to live in, new ward, and all that kind of stuff.

- Getting your new home all organized and put in good order. Some of you may be thinking I'm a freak, but I actually like organizing stuff. It's a lot of work but it always looks so clean and neat when it's done.

Well, that's what I think anyway.

I'm excited to get into The Hole, get all my CRAP back out of boxes and get my new home organized. We'll be out of our place this weekend, then in limbo for a few weeks until The Hole is finished.

In the mean time... watch out Mandons... we're comin' for ya.