QUOTE OF THE DAY: a little kind

I found this lovely little quote a while back. 

I thought it was perfect.

If you like it too... you can download it here.

Life can be a challenge. 

You never know what people are going through.

I found this quote, when work was crazy.

And we all needed to be a little kinder!

I printed it out and hung it on the wall.
It was for me, and for those who came into my office.
When work is stressful, and you work long hours...
it is easy to get stressed out and say things more harshly than needed.

Right now describing my life in ONE word would be: CHANGE

It is good, just different.

I am used to having my life organized and planned.

I feel like I have a lot going on at work and also it's kinda crazy being gone down to St. George every weekend. Things feel kinda disorganized. I am feeling really ready for things to get back to normal. I am ready for me and my husband-o to live in the same place again. I do feel like this time has helped me to feel more ready to sell our beautiful house... and move, but I am ready for the next phase. 

I am really crossing my fingers that our house will sell. SOON!

I am ready to move to St. George... change and all.

Also, right now I am loving:

that it is about to rain,

doing some free-lance projects,

getting to spend some time with little Emma--while her parents go on a date night,

skyping with the husband-o,

waking up, having the sun shine though the windows,

getting together with girlfriends,

weekends with the husband and the hotel pool ;)

and reading books.

Life is good, change and all!

fantastic week { cruz's b-day, 4th of july, family, etc... }

I was so happy that Cruz's birthday was on a Saturday this year... so we could spend it together.

I was able to go down to St. George on Friday and stay until the 5th. It was the best.

Cruz wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday. I told him it would be too hot. He said he still wanted to go, so we went. Happy 29th birthday love. We had a good time... cheesecake factory, pools, freemont st., etc... Cruz's co-worker also gave him the awesome hamburger cake.

 While in St. George for almost the whole week...
Cruz still had to work on Monday and Tuesday... so, I spent a lot of time at the pool. I especially loved visiting in the morning before it was too hot, and it was just me. It was completely relaxing, and got a pretty good tan for me that is. ;)

It was our first time to celebrate the 4th of July in St. George.
It didn't disappoint. They had live music before the fireworks. Then the fireworks had music and words to go with... I loved it. Made me proud to be an American. They let off the fire works from 4 locations. This was fun, because it was like they were surrounding you.

 Oh, man is it hot in St. George. Good thing they have this yummy place to help you cool down.

I headed home on the 5th of July, and went back to work. Cruz came down on the 6th to Orem because the following day we had a little family reunion on the 7th. (That means I got to see him every day of the week.... FANTASTIC!)
We celebrated our Christmas in July party at the Mt. Timpanogos Park. At first it was super windy... but after a bit it wasn't bad. We had lots of yummy food, and lots of good chats with cousins, aunts, uncles.... It was fun to see everyone. Thanks Mom and Dad for planning everything, it was enjoyed by all.

Thank You.

Got to hang out with this little girl a few times last month (June). First was when her parents went on a date night. Since Cruz is gone, it was nice to have someone to be my side-kick for the night. She loves the camera, and always wants to take a picture. I was lucky to get a shot of her before she wanted to be the photographer. :) Em is in a fun stage, her little vocab is growing... sometimes she will say the funniest things. She will also repeat everything you say.
Also, her parents invited me for dinner the other night too. Which was nice. Lisa did a lot of the work since Alan has a hurt foot... and we added my parents to the table at the last minute... so thanks Lisa for being flexible and having me over for a delicious dinner. They also served Marion Berry Pie Ice Cream...WOW! That stuff is good!

Since Cruz has been in St. George and work has been less crazy busy... I've been a little bored... so it was good to have something to do with people.
Thanks Guys.

Together Again.... picnic

Picnic was June 10th... at timp park. 

Little fact... Cruz and I got engaged there exactly 4 years ago on June 8th. We always go to timp park the night marking that anniversary. We normally take a picture. We tried to that night as well... we even brought our camera... but we forgot one important thing. The SD card for the camera. oops. (Here was a post on our 1 yr. anniversary of our engagement... including proposal story.) Ok... back to this post...

Lexy planned a little picnic.

It was fantastic to see some of these faces, who we don't get to see often enough.

We had a yummy dinner, however... I didn't get the camera out until most of it was gone.

Seriously everything was very tasty. Camie stole the show with her super easy steak fries. I need the recipe. She told us more than once, but I have to write those things down. :) I will have to get it from her. 

 We got a little cold, it was still cool in the mountains once the sun went down.

 Joel brought this yummy bowl of goodness.

Ash brought heavenly raspberries and strawberries filled with cheesecake. I could have ate the whole plate. Remember when I said all the food was good... well, it was.

That pic of Ash, Lex and Camie is too funny... almost looks family portrait like. ;)

Joel ate that flower. He said it tasted sweet. :) I guess if I am hungry and have nothing to eat I will eat my day lilies in the back yard. lol. Joel told us all about the plants.  

I was super glad this guy could make it. I have sure missed him while he has been working in St. George. Wondering why he is there? If you haven't heard already we are going to be moving there. (I have kept it kinda quite... just because everyone at work doesn't know. But the big boss, and my boss know... so I figured it was ok to post it. I will post more about it later.)

Thanks Lex for planning this picnic. 

I loved it. 

It was great to see everyone.

I know it will be less often that we see each other since we are all kinda going different directions.

I know that is just part of life.

Change is good, but sometimes it is a bit sad.

We used to hang with these people at least once a week in the singles ward.

Often times we had many of activities that brought us together way more often than that.
But we are all kinda doing different things...
all good things, life often just takes us different directions and changes. Which is good too.
I would never want to do the same thing FOREVER.
I need change... I'd go bonkers without it.
It is a welcomed part of life.

It was fun to gather with our friends again. I hope we do it again sometime!

Good times.

Good friends.

Good laughs. 

and... Good night!

TOGETHER in Saint George

Cruz is working in Saint George since May 30th.

It has been crazy to be apart so much.
We are glad we live in a day and age that there are lots of ways to communicate...
cell phone, facebook, email, skype, etc.

But nothing is like being together. I was more than happy to go and visit him for the weekend.

7 days apart is way too long. I sure loved being together again. We enjoied the summer sun, and the hotel pool... along with some yummy eats and treats. Can't wait to go down again this weekend!!!

Mid Year!!

Can you believe that half of 2012 is already over! How did that happen? Time is flying by, faster and faster each year. Remember this post... here.

I really love making new goals for the year. It's something that I really do take seriously. I do think that is ok to adapt or change them at any time. Also, I am not against adding to them either.

So, being that it's half way though the year. I would see how I was doing. 

#1: Travel to a new place. I have been some new places, but I am not ready to check this off the list quite yet. We did go to California... and we did get to see some new sites... that I hadn't seen yet. So, technically I have done this... I just hope to do MORE of it.

#2: Celebrate Life: We are pretty good at celebrating holidays, and time we get together as a couple. I have no issue with saying that I feel like we do this well. 

#3: Why is this one such a roller-coaster for me. I have been doing super good on this especially from March until the end of May. I've been struggling the last few weeks. Need to get back on track.

#4: Oh, boy. This one we are doing well. More on that in the upcoming days.

#5: Pretty good at this. I do like to have somewhat of a plan, even if it is just a little one. 

#6: Help others: I hope I am doing this. I have been blessed with so much help from everyone. I know that I did get to help someone out this last weekend. It felt good to return the favor.

#7: Working on this little by little. Ha. I need to be better at making time for it.

#8: I have been working my guts out the last little while (Seriously, I've worked about 50 extra hours in the last month). I can't complain about the fun things we have done this far. We have had good times traveling to Vegas twice, California, and little spots around UT. 

Most of all I feel SUPER BLESSED! 2012 has been good to us thus far. :) 

We are happy. We are loved. We are blessed. Life is good!!

Kennecott Copper Mine

We went to Kennecott Copper Mine a few weeks back... and I forgot all about it, until today. So even though we went May18... before Memorial Day... I am just now getting to blogging about it. :) Such is life. To be honest, I am impressed that I am blogging at all right now... work has been crazy busy and overly stressful. You would think I would want nothing to do with the computer after these LONG days.
(Yes, days I work 17 hours that is very true.)

Kennecott had free passes a few weeks ago, maybe they are still available.
We felt like it was worth the free trip, and Cruz had never been there... and the last time I went was in 4th grade or something. We were amazed at how large the trucks were, we were like 3 year olds when it came to the giant tire. All and all good times.

Afterwards we ate at applebees. I have to say THANK YOU to who ever was the person that turned our camera into the lost and found. Thanks for being honest, and not taking our little baby. We didn't even notice that we left it until the next day.

Memorial Day Weekend = Vegas trip.

Memorial Day weekend was a perfect chance to go to Vegas before it get's TOO HOT.

It was perfect weather. We stayed at the Luxor Hotel. We loved the pool!

 I LOVE the dispay at the bellagio gardens! One of my most favorite things about Vegas.

 We went to see the KA, and it was amazing! I think those shows are always good. I love all the creativity that goes into the performance.

We also at at Max Brenner chocolate restaurant. So good. So rich.
Visited the wax museum. LOL, good times.

family get-a-way

Sometimes we just need to take time out from the busy life and relax!

This was a very over due Ashby Family get-a-way.

We rented this beautiful home up in Heber. It was quiet and the perfect weekend get-a-way place.

 Not far from the home, was a cute little pond/park. A good place to take the kid-os to get out of the house for a bit.

 during our stay we had 4 batmans... (Joe, David, JJ, Tyler!) We also had 3 supermans... (David, JJ, Kevin) Oh, and one supergirl... (emma)

 The little kids were loving their goggles they got for swimming... they wanted to wear them all the time. So, Grandpa joined them.

all and all it was a hit. Thanks Lisa for finding a great place to stay, and making it all happen.