Missing Mowing

The last couple of years I have had the opportunity to help my Dad do the yardwork around our house in Chino. We have done quite a few projects and spent countless hours working out there. I know one summer we spent a lot of time moving railroad ties to make sure that our house was ready for the next time it flooded. These projects allowed for my Dad and I to have a lot of time to talk and I really enjoyed these times. I guess that my family spent the last week working out in the yard and getting it ready. They moved a lot of trees and mowed and just spent a lot of time outside together. When I was hearing my Dad talk about them working out in the yard, I got instantly homesick. I realized how much I miss those little things that you never ever think you will miss. I found myself laughing that I miss mowing the yard. I realized that most of all I miss the time that would have been spent with my family and all of the memories that would have been created. I am so grateful for my family and all of the memories that I have and all the many more that will be created soon.

Beach time!!

So this last weekend Melissa, myself, and the munchkins had a chance to go to the beach. It was amazingly fun! I was a little concerned at what everyone said about the temperature of the water. Let me just say, that the west coast has MUCH warmer water. However, the sand out here kicks the west coast's trash. The sand out here is wonderful! It was so much fun to watch as the kids would run through the waves. Once again, I am sure that Melissa either already has or will be putting up pictures. I am glad that one of us is on top of that!

School started today and I am already switching my schedule. Yavapai was amazingly helpful when they had me sign up and pay for the same class twice. So after fixing that, I am now settled in and just waiting for my books to arrive. Hopefully they arrive soon so that I can do my homework! I am really excited about the classes that I will be taking, especially my Nutrition class. The kids start tomorrow and they are really excited and a little bit nervous! I love watching them grow up!

Shhh... It's the Library

So this past week I have started working at the library. I absolutely love what I do. I love that when kids come in that i can just hang out with them. It has been a lot of fun! The library can also get pretty dead though. I don't like these times. I find myself sitting and waiting for someone to just show up! Usually the person who shows up is an obnoxious preteen who wants to talk my ear off about the latest video game that they are playing. When this happens.... I want the library to be empty again! No but really is a lot of fun and really like my job! Which is a HUGE relief! It will be nice next week when I get into a routine and life slows down a little bit! However, with the munchkins that I live with.... I doubt this will ever happen! But that is good because we keep life hopping!

I am going on a berry hunt!

So today I went on a berry hunt with some of the families from Farmington. It was soooooo much fun! I was really hesitant about it because it didn't sound like it would be. But I ended up loving it! I wish that they had blue berry picking out west! The place that we went too also had peaches and raspberries and some more. But we only picked blueberries. I am sure that Melissa will be putting pictures on her blog soon.... so you can see them there! I am way too lazy and late for our next big adventure!

I don't think I am in Kansas anymore... maybe not even the US

So, today I officially became a resident of the east coast. I moved out here today and had two very nice flights. When I arrived, I immediately attended a barbeque at Melissa's and Chris' house. It was a lot of fun and it was a great way to meet the people of Farmington that I will be spending the next while of my life with. However, while I was there I was starting to feel like I was in a foreign country. There are trees EVERYWHERE here. I took for granted how nice it is to look out at the horizon... and see the horizon. Here I see the trunks of hundrends of trees. It isn't quite the same. But the main point of my confusion was the hot dog buns. Now over in the west coast our hot dog buns are cut on the side. So I have spent the last 19 years or so with hot dog buns this way. When I arrive today.... I find, (after a LONG time), that their hot dog buns are cut on top. I was about to go slice the hot dog bun open when I found it. It made me really confused. But that is okay! I guess if I can get passed the strange buns then nothing will phase me! Well I start work on Tuesday and I am really excited about it! I will continue to post all the random east coast findings thats I find while I am out here! lol

So I am really bad at this whole blogging thing

So.... I need to catch up again. I got the library job and will be a children's librarian. I move out there on the 16th so I have about a week and a half. Crazy! I have decided that I HATE packing though. It is no fun! But that is okay. Well school has started out here for the rest of my family. The first couple of days are always crazy. It is always a whirlwind of crying kids, lunch duties, and making sure they get on the right bus. I am really going to miss working at the school though. I, however, will not miss working for my current boss at Hastings. Let me just say that the guy drives me crazy! But that is okay. My last day there is tomorrow. I have started playing the piano and the guitar again. I am really excited about it. I have missed playing them both so much. Hopefully when I get to New Hampshire I will be able to continue. While I am back east I will be taking 16 credit hours online from Yavapai. I look forward to being one semester closer to an associates degree. Yay! I know it this is short but I will try to get better at blogging more often!

Time to Catch Up

Okay, so I realized that I had been slacking in my blogging. Like, I have failed to mention that I am moving. I am moving to New Hampshire. I know, I know.... its pretty crazy. But I will be moving out there about then and staying out for at least a year. I am way excited, pretty much cuz it will be a HUGE party as I will be out there with my sister, and twin :)! It will be good. Anyway, I just got back from the Turley reunion and that was a lot of fun. I loved being able to see my cousins again and seeing how much everything has changed. I missed having Melissa and her kiddos there. So I adopted new kiddos. I spent the last day playing with Parker, and Dallin, and McKade. I even got Tyli to let me hold her!! First off a big thank you to the moms who let me steal there kids! They have no idea how much it meant to me. It was really nice to be able to just spend time with everyone there. I also missed seeing Jennifer and her family, along with the Domgaards. But I understand completely and just look forward to seeing you that much more later on! Well I am still hotel hopping with my family as we still haven't finished out the conference season. But hopefully, I will have more answers about my own life here pretty soon. One thing is for sure, classes start again August 25th. How sad! But thats about all for now!

Man I Miss the Good Old Days lol

Okay so I haven't died or anything I have just been on vacation with my family. Our summer is pretty crazy and so that makes things a lot more fun! Anyway, I was packing up my room and found a paper I wrote for my junior english class. We had to write our own obituary. This is mine. It was dated 9/13/05.

We are sorry to report the passing of Christina Turley. Christina, more formally known as Chrissy, died very unexpectedly at age 19 1/2. She died in a freak accident while tipping cows. She was born on April 20, 1989. Chrissy had graduated from Chino Valley High School and had received a full ride scholarship to Washington University. Those who survived her included all of her family and her newly acquired husband. She didn't have any children. Some of her hobbied included basketvall, doorbell ditching, and cow tipping. They later which in the end killer her.

When I read this I about died of laughter. I have never ever been cow tipping but apparently that is what will kill me. What a funny funny paper!

Dancing

So yesterday, I got to get together with some of the old dance students and dance. It was Landa, Deby, Mom, and Me. It was sooooooo much fun! I forgot how much I missed it until I put on my tap shoes again. It took me a little while to get into the swing of things but after I got used to it again, then it was all good. But I was a little rusty still. But man I miss it! I will definitely have to start dancing again!

Really?

So finals week is finally over and that means that I have a couple of weeks to recoop before the summer sessions begin. THANK GOODNESS!! I am going to need a break for sure after this week.

So I went to high school with a kid named Kalen Earle. I must say Kalen is probably one of the greatest people to ever go to Chino. He is one of those kids that made an impact on you instantaneously. He was always so kind and thoughtful and aware of other people. I knew Kalen from playing on sports teams together and we were in the same spanish class for a couple of years. In Spanish there was a group of four of us and we would just sit and talked. Mr. Cahue always pretended to be mad but we always knew he wasn't. We were some of his best students and he knew it. Anyway, with all of this time spent with Kalen, there were many conversations that I remember. They were conversations about his hopes and his dreams. They were things he wanted to accomplish in life. About two years ago he was diagnosed with shoulder cancer. The cancer spread into his lungs. On Friday he was taken to the hospital because he stopped breathing. They took him off of life support and he breathed for himself for a lot longer than they expected. Today he was being transferred into Hospice care but he also died today. Now I realize that I am writing very early friday morning but he died on May 8, 2008. He had about a month until he would have graduated from high school. He was an amazing person. He made a big enough impact on my sister in the year that she taught him, that her youngest son was named after him. He was just that type of person. When I found out the news... it felt as though my heart would explode. I was instantly devastated. However, I do know that he is in a better place and he is no longer in pain. I feel for his family. They were an amazing family and very close to each other. I will be attending his funeral on Wednesday, and I am not looking forward to it. Kalen did live a good life. He did things that made his life complete and even in the last two years he didn't let the cancer stop him from doing things that he wanted to do. I really am going to miss him. In fact Kalen is so well liked that they have to hold his funeral in the gym because it is the only place big enough to fit everyone. It will be nice to see the community come together again.

There have been days in college where I question what I am doing. I question why I am here or whether it is all worth it. The last year has been really hard on me and I have wanted to quit more than I would like to admit. But I can honestly say that people like Kalen and Ryan really have inspired me. Ryan is an 8-year old that I know from working at the school. He was diagnosed with brain cancer this last year. He has at least another year of treatments ahead of him but it looks like he will be okay. But after watching these boys and especially Kalen. I know that he won't get a chance to fulfill all of his dreams. It makes me want to strive to fulfill mine. It makes me want to do everything I can all the time because he can't. I hope in some small way that this will make him live on... even if its only in my heart. I really will miss him but I know that everything happens for a reason and that there is a plan and everything will work out. Life will go on... it just makes me sad that the world is oblivious to the fact that they lost such an amazing person today.

7 days!!!

Okay so not that I am counting... but I have 7 days left of class! I am pretty much really really really excited about it! Then all of the drama will leave Flagstaff and I can enjoy living here once again. The only bad part about that is that I have finals in those last 7 days. But I will survive and it will be okay! I am also very excited for December. My sister and her kiddos are planning on coming out to visit for the month and I can't even handle how excited I am for it! However, it also is sad cuz that means that Chris will actually be in Iraq. He leaves on Sunday for training and that is really crazy to think about! Anyway... I have to go study for a math test but just thought I would check in!

So a quick update...

Alright, so to get everyone up to speed on how life is in the beautiful Flagstaff area. I am about to complete my second semester of college up at NAU. I am studying mathematics and that is rather interesting at times. I love my classes and my professors. They truly are amazing. I am still living with G.T. Right now it is kinda up in the air about where I will continue in school and what I will study. I am not sure how much longer I will study math and I have been looking into speech therapy. I would still be able to accomplish my goals in life with this career and watching my nephews improvement in the speech program he is in, has really opened my eyes. I had the opportunity to go to New Hampshire for spring break and I love it out there!!! Well minus all the snow. It was great to see Melissa and her family again. They will be stationed out there for another two years. The events of the past year have really helped me grow as an individual. I am no longer the same person that I once was and I am grateful for that. I can see now why it was so important for me to go to Guatemala and why things in my past played such a crucial role. The things that I learned back then are helping me every day now. I look forward to having many more uncertanties and many more chances to grow. I am dating someone right now. His name is Dusty. I met him at an FHE activity where we went sledding. Which is weird cuz I totally wasn't going to go to that activity but I am now really glad that I did. Anyway, he is great. All-in-all life is good. I really do look forward to the future and being able to figure out what I am supposed to do with my life. I love you all!!!