Peaches

So my first time attempting canning all on my own! Thanks to a good friend who gave me a canning kit for my b-day I was all prepared for the task. I did 14 quarts. they looked amazing! and they all sealed. So the hope now is that they taste good.

Big B-day

I had a great monumental Birthday. It started with 5 men giving me beautiful flowers delivered to my office! What girl has ever been so admired?

A beautiful cake made with love and purple ribbons!

Presents and the Mountain!

And of course Family.

It was a great birthday! Thanks to such a caring, fun, family

survival

So being a dog owner really is an adventure. Sasha is doing great! She has learned shake, stay, free, lay and how to lead (until a dog or cat or person comes around :) ). I am not sure that i will survive though. The last week of July she and i were playing and in the rough play she sunk her tooth into the side of my thumb and tore it right down the edge of my fingernail. It took 2 weeks and kitchen table surgery before it started to heal. After the wound healed for almost a week i bumped the fingernail and it split down in the middle of it where it had been weakend. Just got over that on Sunday and today (Monday) I was out running with her and tripped on an unever sidewalk and jammed the fingers of my other hand. all four fingers are swollen but the middle and ring fingers are bruised and painful. Sasha will live through the long days alone but i am not sure i will live through the fun times we are together.
I went camping with my friend annette last week to Pine Valley. It was beautiful. Camping couldn't have been more perfect. Sasha was tormented every day all day by chipmunks and squirrels who tried to sneak into the campground. At one point they were coming from four different directions and she just didn't know what to do. I loved just being in the mountains, away from phones and email. completley unattached from the everyday life. Work is so busy right now. I come home mentally exauhsted every day. Tension is high and the problems and new products just keep piling up and so the helpdesk is constantly busy. So being away for four days was sure pleasure.
We stopped at the Meadow Mountain Massacre sight. I really dont understand what happened or why in regards to the massacre. But the sight that the Church has created and maintains in a beautiful, peacful, spiritual place. There is the strongest feeling of love and forgivness and healing at the site. it is truly a heavenly place on earth.

New Adventure

I am on to the next adventure. I am a dog owner. I had a 3 day trial which was increadibly difficult and emotionally draining. But we (Sasha and I) survived and now we belong to each other.
Sasha is the Hannah in the last blog. But I think Sasha fits her better and within 2 days she answers to it very well. She is a quick learner of anything that brings love or treats.
Advertised as a Blonde Lab mix. She is probablly more mix than lab. Not sure all what but i love that she is smaller than a lab and has the beautiful blond/red color of a lab. She claimed me just after a day, but it took a few days for me to decide that i would do her good as well. We have walked together, shopped together, hiked together, cried together, been on a doggie play date and eaten together. She will be a great pal!

Hannah

This is Hannah, I just met her today. She is a beautiful girl. She is a yellow lab that is mixed with something else.... no one really knows for sure what. But she is small for a lab and has beautiful white patches and some dark coloring on her tail. I am very seriously considering adopting her. We are going to spend some more time together and get to know each other a bit more, before that decision is made. Don't you love how she poses for a picture? what a girl.

Book

So i have decided I am going to write a book. I'm horrible at English but figure if i can get the words on paper someone else can make them read properly. Its entitled Life is a Rainbow A perfectionist guide to living life in color. I figure I'm pretty experienced at believing in being perfect and living black and white. I should share what i am learning about finding the color in life.
Work however is so busy right now that i just come home and crash at the end of the day.
Love reading all the updates on every ones blogs. Thanks for letting me share in the fun.

Perfect Weekend!

Spent the weekend away. Spa, Sunshine, Shopping, St George, Seven Wives Inn, it was a great combination! I am laying in the pool down there thinking; "Why don't I live in St George?" I havn't figured out the answer to that question.... so maybe some day I will and I can enjoy all those things every day.
The Seven Wives Inn was delightful. A huge Pioneer home withh all kinds of amazing bedrooms and bathrooms built into the closets. They had amazing breakfasts. I had a Yogurt Fruit Granola Parfait served in ann ice cream goblet. I felt sinful to have such a great meal for breakfast.
At the Spa i had a body scrub and wrap in lavender/aloe oil. Then a massage. It was most relaxing.
I enjoyed hours floating in an very very cold pool on a very hot day. It couldn't have been any better.
Then dinner at Anna & Kyles on the way home. Kyle made homemade Tortialls for tacos. What a feast. They are the funnests hosts.
All in all it was a perect weekend.

Spending

I am busy spending my tax return! its so much fun! I have added insulation to all of my home - hope the gas bills go down. Waiting for the HVAC guy to come and price an AC unit. Ordered some additional kitchen cabinets. Bought some kitchen hutches. Arranged to have my fabulous electrician finish the power updates in the next couple of weeks. It is all so much fun. Oh i also had my contractor weed and feed my lawn in hopes that it will do better this summer. I love tax return time.

latest happenings:

Work and more work. Love my job but it is getting into the crazy time. New computers, new images, new software and lots of headaches.



Went to an Image Consultant presentation and found out that it doesn't matter how tall I am, if I can walk in high heels I should wear them! That made me happy. I get tired of the short men in the career world who ask why I would wear heels when i'm so tall. I think they are simply jelous and I tell them I wear the heels because "I CAN!"



Milton and boys cut all the dead limbs out of my cherry tree last week. It looks really bare. but at least it is now living and not just dying. I hope they get to make something beautiful out of all the red cherry wood.

Spring Flowers

The first flower of spring has come out. I love that I have not yet planted flowers at my house. But I have flowers blooming! and even better they are purple. I think this house was meant for me, even with all the work that I had to do and all the work still left to be done. I am so happy to have my home with its purple spring Flowers!

Can anyone tell me what kind of flower it is?............................

in Memory of Francis Shand

Its amazing to me how the little things in life often become very significant in the overall picture of life. Such as a thought last week that i had to catch up with my high school best Friend Kim Shand Tenney. A short quick email in mid week and then a phone call at the end of the week after finding out that her Dad has passed away. Spending so much time at each others homes growing up. I feel like a part of my life is gone as well. Francis Shand will be missed. I cant say i remember much of him in high school - he was a hard working Turkey farmer - who was not often at home when i was there. However the opportunities i had to see him after his stroke bring back fond memories of a softened teddy bear. Who was grateful for family and people and life. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=francis-arthur-shand&pid=140686626

Had the best Saturday ever. I went Swimming, havn't been able to do that for a few months. As hard as it is to get into the water - I couldn't get out! it is so invegorating to swim. I then had my monthly breakfast with Debbie at Mimi's. what a great place for breakfast they have the best fruit! Then the best ever was a hair cut... nothing to extreme but I had no style left in the locks so it was time to get some bounce back into it. I ended the day with a sandwich from Gandolfos and the largest piece of their chocolate cake. Can't resist their cake for anything! It was such a great saturday. I would take another one of those days next week.
I wish Lauri was around to take a picture of my hair and show it off... but its hard to get a picture from 180 miles away. :(

Jake Hoffman Memorial

It was Jake's funeral on Saturday. There was a missionary get together before. Nice to catch up with people that were my world for 18 months that i have not seen for 17 years! Jake was such a fun part of those 18 months. I specifically remember pdays playing tennis and a great picture i have of him 'standing' under a 'no standing sign'. Jake left 6 young children and wife. there is a memorial fund in place for his children, if anyone wants to donate it is http://jakehoffmanmemorialfund.com. Farewell my friend until we meet again in the Lords divine plan.

I'm joining the blogging world.

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So I finally got an internet connection at my house. now i can get to all the social websites somewhere besides my phone. However, i'm not a writer - i'm not a photo taker - and i work on computers all day and rarely feel like even touching one when i'm not at work... So no gaurantees on what this site will bring.