Funny girls...

Natalie came out to babysit a couple weeks ago and (being the photographer that she is) always has a camera on her. Well, this is what came of their little "playing" time together! Oh how I love these two girls in my life!

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This next picture needs a little explaining.....HAHAHA! My sister and I grew up playing volleyball and still are very much involved with it (as most of you already know). Natalie was babysitting because I was coaching a volleyball camp that morning. Then I was coming back home to pick Kylee up for her volleyball camp for Tiny Tots. Natalie got her all dressed for me and even got her "prepped" for the day. Hahaha! Gotta love it!

Monsoon winds bring winds of change for me...

For the past 3 years, my hair has been long and dark (pretty much my natural color).

Then in March, I decided to lighten it up and try being a blondy.

Well, last week I had a crazy idea to chop off my hair! I get these thoughts every once and a while but I NEVER act upon them. Well......guess what???

I DID!!! Awwww...............I cut off nearly 14 inches. I couldn't believe it. But I'm so glad I did it because the last time I had hair this short, I hadn't discovered the flat iron yet. Now I can experience short hair with the flat iron and actually style it cute! It's still very fresh and I miss my long hair, but hey........it'll grow back right!!!

Thanks Tanya for ruining my life! Hahaha! Joking.....I love it!

SURPRISE!!!

David's 30th birthday party was long-time in coming for me. I wanted so badly for him to be surprised all day long! His birthday was Friday but his actual party celebration wasn't until Saturday, so I had to throw him a "mock" birthday party on Friday so he wouldn't get suspicious. Here are some of our good friends who came to help me "fake" David out! We had cake, ice cream and played games like we always do! Fun times!

David thought that this was his party. He was happy and thanked me for a great birthday! hahaha.....little did he know what was coming up the next day! Mwa ah ah!!
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Saturday morning David was mowing the lawn when he got a phone call from his brother. He was picking him up to help him with a "job" in Phoenix. David went thinking he was doing just that. Then they pulled up to a paintball place and as they walked inside, David saw 9 other people there waiting for him. He was so shocked! He had NO IDEA!! I'm so glad because I thought he knew the entire time but just wasn't saying anything. They ended up playing paintball for 3 hours and had a blast!

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Then we went over to his sister's house for BBQ and swimming. The whole day was perfect and I'm so glad he had no idea!

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Some of the guys hanging out outside by the pool...

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Some of the kids eating icecream and cake (Mmmmmm)

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Singing and blowing out the candles on his cake...

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The cake!!! It's hard to see here but I made a picture by going to (faceinhole.com) and put his face on a rock hard body builder's body! On the top it says "Happy 30th David" and on the bottom it says "The academy sure is paying off". Hahahaha! The cake was a hit!

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Thank you to everyone who helped make David's day so special. It couldn't have worked out better! It was perfect!

Old man!!!

30 years ago the love of my life was born. 8 years ago (to the day) we met each other. I can't believe it's been 8 years! It feels like yesterday. I love that country song by Brad Paisley...."I thought I loved you then". The words fit perfectly for the way I feel about this wonderful man in my life! Here are just a few of them that I can't help but post:

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I remember trying not to stare, the night that I first met you.....

I hadn't told you then, that I loved you then.

Now you're my whole life, and now you're my whole world......

And I thought I loved you then.

I can see us with more children on the way....

I can see you when you're hair is turning gray

What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more

But I've said that before.....

Now you're my whole life, and now you're my whole world.....

And I thought I loved you then!

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I love you so much David!! Happy birthday baby! This is just another big step in our lives!! Just remember though......I'll always be 2 1/2 years younger than you so when I turn 30, it won't be that big of a deal.....RIGHT!!!!??? :)

A sister is a forever friend!

This past weekend my sisters and I went on our first ever sister trip. We had so much fun that I'm sure this is going to be an every year summer trip from here on out. I'm so blessed to have 2 amazing sisters who are truly my best friends.

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We drove to Palm Springs Friday and spent the evening with our Grandma, Aunts and cousins. It was a girl night at PF Changs! There was a lot of this...

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Here is me and my Grandma Montez. Oh how I love her!!! She is the most amazing woman!

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Here is my Aunt "Queenie" (Isabel) and sister Natalie. My Aunt Queenie packed on the muscles since the last time I saw her. She looks amazing and isn't afraid to show off her bulging bicep! Hahaha!

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Me and Natalie messing around outside with the PF Changs horse statue! Don't even ask me what the heck we were doing! Hahaha!

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The three of us laughing at something........we did a lot of laughing the entire weekend! Good times!

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My Grandma had some old pictures of us and whipped them out for us to see. Here we are as little girls...

And here we are today! Awww.......we haven't aged at all!

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Saturday we drove to Hungington Beach and stayed with Tera's long-time good friend Sara. The beach was beautiful!!! This is us taking a pre-beach picture in front of Sara's house.

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At the beach...

Natalie and Tera

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We did A LOT of this too!!!!

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Me and Natalie eagerly awaiting our yummy sushi at Tuna Town! Mmmmm.....it was GOOD!

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We were laughing at something else here in this picture below.

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As much as I missed David and Kylee back at home, I didn't want this weekend to end. It was just what I needed and it reminded me to never take my sisters, and the relationship we have, for granted. I'm so blessed to have sisters in my life. They truly are my best friends and the ones I can always turn to for anything. I love you Tera and Natalie!!! Thanks for an amazing weekend!

Future Volleyball Star

I'm back in AZ after a SUPER FUN weekend in California with my sisters (pictures to come) and today started a 4 day volleyball camp for Kylee. I wasn't going to start her in volleyball just yet but my friend is running the camp and told me to put Kylee in it. So I did! She was hilarious! There are a couple 5 year olds in her session but she is by far the youngest one there. Here are some pictures of her....

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Playing a game of tag to warm up!

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Smiling for the camera. These are the other 4 kids in her class.

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The High School girls helping out with the camp are great.

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Huddle and cheer before they break off for a drink break.

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So thirsy!!!

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And here's my future star in action!

She's going to be a setter like her Momma!

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These pictures don't show the true Kylee at this camp. She was off on the side dancing and twirling most of the time. It was so funny! I got some good video of her too. Her shoes are so fuuny. For those of you who know Kylee, she is a flip flop and skirt kind of girl. Getting her to wear a "sports" outfit with sneakers took some convincing. My sister was watching her and had to bribe her by saying that she only had to wear this outfit for an hour and then she could wear her new big fluffy skirt (that we got in California) for 10 hours! hahaha! It worked!!! The instant we walked through the door from camp, she ran to her room and changed into her girly outfit. Volleyball camp.........yeah right - - - - - - she belongs at a dance/ballerina camp!!!

My newest most prized posession!

For as much time as I spend on this blog......and for all the hours "wasted" (as David tells me).....it's all paid off now! I turned my blog into a book! I now have a blogged journal on paper and I will forever have it no matter what. This blog is so worth it in so many different ways! I am horrible at scrapbooking and I have tried and tried to get a cute scrapbook started. I failed miserably! But ever since I discovered blogging, I fell in love with it and it has now turned into my scrapbook. Blurb.com will turn your blog into a book. I actually discovered this website last year and attempted to do it but for some reason, it was difficult and frustrating so I quit. But now that David is in the academy and I have a lot of time to myself at nights, I decided I wanted to attempt this again. I went to blurb.com and found out that a newer (easier) version was available. So I downloaded it (it's free) and found that it WAS easier and super fun! So I started it and finished it in about 5 days. I LOVE how it turned out! It ended up being 189 pages. That just goes to show how much I update my blog! But I'm so glad I did because I now have a detailed scrapbook of everything that has happened in our lives over the past 2 years. I highly recommed doing it if you have a blog! It only cost me $50 in total. $43 for the book (depending on how many pages it is and what kind of cover you want) and then $7 for shipping. It arrived in 3 days after I ordered it. It's wonderful!!!! So........here it is:

All the pages are in order of when I blogged. You can arrange the pictures and text however you want. It transferred the pictures and words automatically from my blog and I was then able to arrange it and mess around with it however I wanted. It's GREAT!!!

Girls Camp 2009

From Wednesday to Saturday I was at my most memorable place in the woods.......Camp Lomia! I'm not in young women's anymore but lucky for me, all the young women leaders were either pregnant or nursing.....so I got to go!! Yay!!! It was so much fun and just what I needed. The girls are amazing and so are the 3 other women I went with. Here we are below:

(of course I'm the only one to make a funny face - - I forgot to give them the memo!!)

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Paintball baby!!!

You know you like this pose below!

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Me and one of my sister-in-laws there with me (Courtney).

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7 legged race...

This is what they did most of the time while in this event......

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Our cabin. We had the 3rd years. So much fun!

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Gotta have the goofy picture! This is more like it!

This experience was very bitter sweet. SWEET because I LOVE girls camp and always enjoy my experiences with the girls there. BITTER because I don't know when I'll be able to go again now that I'm not in Young Women's anymore. I'll just have to play "suck-up" to the Young Women's president for the next year until summer rolls around again!! You know you want me to come again Kim!!!!!!!! I'd be an EXCELLENT Stake Staff member!! :) Choose me!!!