Happy Mother's Day

I must say how incredibly grateful I am to all of the amazing women out there in the world. I truly believe that in a lot of ways it takes a village to raise a child and I am so thankful to all of the women villagers that have helped shape and mold me into the woman that I am today.

I am incredibly grateful for my very own mother. I hope to one day be a tenth of the woman she is and I will be just fine in life. I am so grateful that she taught me to love the arts the way that I do and that I have a permanent travel buddy/Broadway musical partner. I have loved all of our adventures and then just the quiet moments at home. I am so grateful that she loves me so much and is always willing to be around at a moment's notice. I love that she is one of my best friends and that I can call and talk her ear off whenever I need. Thanks Mom and I hope you have a wonderful day!

I am also incredibly grateful for the wonderful Aunt Gerry. What a woman to admire! The last few months that we spent living with her were so healing and allowed our marriage to grow and develop in ways that were exactly what we needed. I am so grateful for the love and support that was shown to us, not only in those few months but over the years. I am grateful that she spent the hours trying to help me learn the piano, watching my performances, coming to basketball games, etc. I hope that I can love and support my own children in a way similar to the way that she has supported me and my siblings. I hope that one day I can have my nieces and nephews look up to me in the same way that my cousins and I look up to her. Thank you for being such a wonderful woman in my life and loving my new family so much! It really does mean to the world to us.

I am also grateful for my Mother-in-law. I am so grateful for the job she did in raising her son. I am so grateful that I have been included in this wonderful family that loves and supports each other. I am grateful that Camille is such a part of our lives. I am in awe at all of things that she has done in her lifetime. One day I hope to be as organized as her as far as spending my time. She is so service oriented and what an admirable trait that is. Thank you Camille for all of the love and support and I look forward to that continuing on to the next generation.

So in honor of Mother's Day, I have made each of you an edible bouquet of flowers.



I must say that they looked better yesterday, before they sat out on the counter. Camille yours wouldn't have traveled very well or been very good to eat by the time it got to you, so the next time we come to visit I will definitely at least have to bring you the "greens" of the bouquet.



The "greens" of the bouquet was originally parsley but after about 10 minutes it looked like a dying weed. So instead I added my own "greens" to the bouquet and I don't think anyone will mind one bit.

Our First Week

This last week was the first week in our new home. I don't know if either Marc or I have ever been so exhausted before in our life! It was filled to the brim of cleaning, unpacking, repacking, and still trying to live a normal life. The house made sure that he were going to work for our new position and kept throwing all sorts of obstacles in our way. Marc is becoming quite the handyman for the first time in our marriage has a "honey-do" list. We spent Sunday morning taking apart the dryer as our dryer decided it was done working. Both Marc and I were covered in lint but it was good to have to work together to solve the problem. We learned all about garbage disposals as we replaced that in the house as well. And we are getting really good at washing our dishes by hand because our dishwasher suddenly stopped draining. Silly appliances!! I am so grateful for all of the time spent this week as our house now feels like our new home.

Marc and I have spent time walking around the yard and deciding what we want done or not done. It has been fun to plan a backyard for little kids with flowers and grass and possibly a swing set. I have come home a couple of times this week with Marc chopping something down or out water the few beautiful flowers that we have. The outside will definitely be Marc's project but it has been so fun to watch him out there working and being so excited with the progress he has made.

This week has been a week of firsts for us. The first being that our first dinner in our new home was fabulous. I made a garlic shrimp pizza that was super easy and delicious. Marc and I will make tweaks to it next time but it was such a fun meal and we celebrated it to the fullest. The next first was that I made my first dinner that was absolutely disgusting. Needless to say it ended up in the trash and we ate bean dip for dinner. Marc was such a sweetheart and kept saying that the bean dip was phenomenal and I had really outdone myself and things along that line. He knew that messing up dinner really bothered me. I kept insisting the bean dip couldn't be that amazing because all I did was open cans and mix but Marc kept insisting what an amazing job I did on. I am so grateful that he loves and supports me enough to continually insist that my bean dip was amazing.

Kiara is finally starting to settle into the house. Everything things get packed or unpacked or moved the poor thing thinks we are leaving her or moving again. She hates both of the options equally and we try to let her know that we are here for her and aren't going anywhere. It probably doesn't help that the poor thing is in heat, which I am sure just complicates the problem. Now Marc and I are faced with the next issues of do we get her another cat? Do we want her to have kittens? And all of those pet questions. Sometimes I really wish she could talk just so I could ask her her opinion.

I have figured out though that we have a bilingual cat, too bad the other language isn't English. She is fluent in cat (meowing) and in bird, this sounds like she is chattering like a monkey actually. I first noticed the chattering when we stayed one weekend at my parents house. But last night Marc and I enjoyed a good laugh as she tried to talk a fly into coming down from the ceiling and play with her. She tried chattering at him for a long time and when that didn't work then she tried meowing at him. Finally I knocked him off of the ceiling and Kiara enjoyed playing with her friend until she sat on him and he didn't survive that impact on his little body so well.

We still have a long way to go until we are done moving but every step forward is so greatly appreciated and we are looking forward to being here for a long time. Marc can start the process for being a correctional officer soon and prayers and good thoughts are always appreciated!

Goodbye Fleas

Well our family has had an interesting little bit. It was discovered that our very inside cat had met some very outside fleas. Now we tried to be good guardians and teach them to share and play nice but neither side would have it. The fleas apparently were in that "teenage-boy" stage where they were just super hungry all the time and Kiara didn't like being the main course on their menu. Though I am sure the fleas didn't like all of Kiara's scratching to try and get rid of them either.

The whole flea situation was discovered when we noticed Kiara was acting like she was in pain and was moaning and dragging herself across the carpet, etc. We called my Dad to see what was wrong and what we could do for her. He said that it sounded like fleas. Marc rushed to the store to buy Kiara a flea collar and rushed back. Wanting her to be out of pain as soon as possible, he hurried and put the collar on. Looking back, it might have been better to make sure we had read the instructions first.

But Kiara had only had one bad day like the first one and we were excited at the progress we were making. Kiara might not have been so excited. She HATED the collar and would try to run away from it at first or try to hide from it. It was a long few days of her being so mad at us and it was our first real exposure to what we can expect in parenting. I have decided that I don't know if I am up for parenting if it is anything like that, but I was proud that the collar stayed on no matter how mad she got.

We knew that we would be moving into our new house soon and didn't want to move these darling little fleas with us. So Marc and I again went to the store and spent a LONG time looking at flea killing supplies. By the time we left we had stuff for the carpets, the furniture, a shampoo, and another collar. We thoroughly read the directions for everything and off we went. While Marc gave poor little Kiara a flea bath I went about doing the carpets and furniture. We discovered during this time that when we put the collar on we hadn't activated the killing solution. So the fleas were definitely attracted to the collar, the many, many, MANY bites on Kiara's neck can attest to that but they weren't being killed. No wonder she didn't like the collar. Maybe I shouldn't be so proud that I left it on her after all....oops! After the flea bath she was dried and a new collar was put on correctly this time, we hope.

The next step was making sure we weren't carrying any fleas either. Both Marc and I got flea baths and every article of clothing, bedding, towels, etc. is being washed so as to not move any of those little buggers with us. But through this whole process we have learned some valuable lessons:

* Read the instructions before continuing on
* Find the humor in ANY situation
* Having loved ones who love and support you, is what this life is all about

So if you have any other questions about defleaing an animal, make sure not to call Marc or myself....we aren't really experts on the subject :)

What Life Brings

So this post is at least a week overdue but I figure better late than never. These last few months have been a period of change and more change and finding what is best for our little family. When we moved from Tempe to Prescott we knew that it was a temporary move we just thought we had different things in store for our future. When we had moved I had applied to work for the State Department and had made it fairly far along in the process. I was trying to prepare us for every move in every location if we did get hired on. I knew that my wardrobe wouldn't be fit for a summer in Guatemala or a winter in Russia let alone anywhere in between. But one day we received notice that I was no longer being considered for the position without any real reason why. It was a hard day and a few tears were shed but I put my faith in the Lord that he had a new plan for us and he has definitely delivered.

Marc started working for a company that had stationed him up in Flagstaff. Since we really didn't know where we were going we took the job and the day that Marc was to start the contract fell through. We were in a period where we were employed and yet no money was coming in because Marc wasn't working. This company finally found another contract for him, again in Flagstaff, and he started working again. Marc started looking for other work up in Flagstaff and started working part-time at Subway again. At one point he had two other job offers as well but we felt good with the ones he had taken. This meant he was up in Flagstaff full-time and my brother very graciously allowed Marc to stay up there with them during that time.

At this point it was being discussed that Flagstaff would become our new home but I still needed to find a job first. My perfect job opened up at the City, to become a Librarian again. I applied but figured that lots of people would be applying. I kept checking the website and could only tell that I hadn't been cut yet and there was still a chance of me getting the job. Then they called me for an interview. I was ecstatic!!! I went through the interview and felt good as I drove back to Prescott. Within 24 hours I had the job and was going to be moving to Flagstaff in less than 2 weeks to start work. At this point, I had no doubt that this is where the Lord intended us to be, especially knowing how fast everything was moving for both Marc and myself.

As a family we had discussed and decided that switching homes between my brother and myself might be the best move for everyone. I needed to return to Flagstaff to finish up school and he needed to move back to Prescott to finish up schooling as well. This is a move that we look forward to and hope it will be good for everyone involved.

But until the move happens Marc and I are taking an extended stay vacation. We really didn't do anything for our anniversary and so I am using this as an excuse to do something for our anniversary. We have been staying at a hotel for this vacation and are so grateful to be under the same roof again. It has been so much fun and we just laugh all the time. What a great little adventure for our family and how grateful we are for the family we have and for the blessings we receive. We are happy and blessed and so in love. We will keep you posted on what is next for our little family of three.

Girl's Night Out

When Marc and I moved to Prescott one of our goals was to find some awesome friends that we could both get along with, luckily we found those friends in our FHE crew. I keep calling us the Young Single Adults but we are all married so that doesn't work so I either call them the FHE crew or the YMCA (Young Married Christian or Crazy or Confused or who knows Adults). Anyway, over the last several months we have gotten to know and love several of the couples in our ward and have really enjoyed our time with them. Yesterday we decided to have a Girl's Night Out because I hadn't seen the movie Tangled and I think the girls needed an excuse to leave the boys at home! It ended up being 3 out of the 4 girls, we missed having Jessica there! And then we had two of the four husbands playing computer games in the next room over. I think the boys had fun being locked in the computer room and playing games and I know the girls had fun watching the movie (I loved it!!!!) and then just chatting after the movie. I had forgotten how nice it can be to just be silly girls and talk about everything from schooling to contacts to husbands to histories to frustrations to goals and everything in between. I am really going to miss seeing the FHE group every week but I am so grateful to have had the chance to get to know each of them and to have them be a part of our lives.

With each of the couples it took me a long time to feel like I had a spot in the group. In some ways I felt like I was undeserving of their friendships. In our group we have the perfect one, the one with the devoted career and and clear direction and then we have the brainiac and that is just the girls of the group! Trust me the boys are equally as amazing! But as I got to know each one better I found things in each of them that I came to love and adore. I have found comfort in talking to each of them and know that between the three of them there isn't a problem in the world they couldn't solve. I have come to truly value their opinions and their friendship. I have come to know them as real individuals and not just as the labels posted above. I have been blessed by their friendship and I couldn't thank them enough, but thank you girls for the night out and everything else you have done for Marc and me! We will have to keep in touch!!!

Our First Death

I am not sure whether I find this post to be morbid, sad, or just down right funny but I am pretty sure it is the last one. Kiara was very excited to find her first best friend the other day but sadly enough he was a gnat. But Kiara thankfully wasn't biased by their differences in looks or backgrounds or even languages. So Kiara played and played with this poor gnat for a very, very long time. She would play tag with the gnat and try to give the gnat a close up view of her teeth as she tried to eat it but she had the greatest time with this gnat. I am sure the gnat was having panic attacks and trying to run away from her but she seemed oblivious to the turmoil she was causing and continued to enjoy her play time. That is until she actual tagged him against the glass. The poor thing stuck to the bottom of her foot and in her attempt to find him again she re-stuck him to the window. He sat there very squished as she continued to look for her lost friend. At this point in the saga I went up stairs to eat and when I came back he was no longer squished to the window. Now I have no idea what happened to him for all I know his final resting place is probably in Kiara's tummy. But anyway after she looked for him for quite awhile she started calling for him. Her meow was so pitiful and sad as she looked for her lost friend that if I could have given her another gnat I would have gladly obliged. I tried to explain to her that her friend was dead and he wasn't coming back but sadly I don't speak cat very well and the search for the lost friend continued. I think she has finally forgotten about the friend but it brought us lots and lots of laughter between finding the friend, to playing with the friend, to killing the friend, to trying to re-find the friend. So RIP Mr/Mrs Gnat we definitely appreciate you having a play day with our kitty cat! We look forward to meeting other family members and letting Kiara get up-close-and-personal with your extended family and friends.

The Holidays

So I realize it is February now and I am just getting around to the "Holidays" but such is life! Our holidays were amazing and we loved being able to be around family and loved ones. We did miss getting to see Marc's family for Christmas but it was definitely a great first one for us. For part of our Christmas present my parents bought us a Christmas tree. We found one at Goodwill that was exactly what I was looking for and cheap! It was a full, 7 feet tree that came apart for easy storage. So our first Christmas tree was bought for $15 and my Dad bought us some cute ornaments so that it wouldn't be an empty tree. Of course by the time Marc and I could actually put up our first tree together it was after New Years so we decided we were just going to celebrate our Christmas with the Armenians. We put up our tree and instantly found problems, we didn't have enough lights to cover our tree. So we ran to Wal-Mart but we were too hopeful because by January 5th they shouldn't have a whole lot of Christmas decorations still up. We did find lights that were 100 count for 62 cents. It was a great deal and we even bought a tree topper that was on sale from $10 to $2.50. I had bought some other ornaments for our tree as well because I was afraid that Kiara was going to break all of the ones that my parents had bought us and so we bought some shatter-proof round ornaments. We got back to decorating the tree and found out that Kiara really liked to eat the tinsel. We also discovered that our cool round ornaments were lacking some sort of hanger and so being ornery I set the whole package on the tree. Needless to say those ornaments didn't last very long but was definitely fun to decorate our tree. Here are some fun pictures of our tree decorating!

Mikkel next to our tree to show how tall it is!


Marc's favorite Christmas tree topper:


Our real Christmas tree topper:


Our packages of ornaments on the tree:


An ornament I made for our tree. I made several of these and bells too!


The reason the tree finally came down!