Darren and I celebrated our 18th  anniversary on September 23, 2011.

I am so grateful to be married to my best friend.

It was Darren's turn to plan our anniversary this year.

He had me seriously all freaked out that we were doing something CRAZY.  It doesn't help that one year I took him sky diving and he keeps saying he will get his revenge someday. He kept hinting it would be an adventure.  He told me to pack jeans and sensible shoes. He later clarified the sensible shoes request to say to pack what HE would consider sensible shoes.  Obviously he knows me enough to know that if told to pack sensible shoes I'd pack my fantastic ruby red slip on flats.  I figure anything without a heel is sensible right???

He told the kids what he was planning and for the few days before we left every time the kids would look at me they would start giggling then look guilty and pat me and say, "You'll probably be okay mom". 

Gee... thanks.

I will be the first to admit I have control issues.  I don't like heights. Or going fast.  I am NOT athletic.  Never have been. I have terrible eye/hand coordination.  You get the idea.  My mind was going into over-drive trying to figure out what had been planned.  I was worried that whatever it was, I wouldn't be able to do it. I was worried I would REFUSE to do it.  I was worried Darren would be disappointed he married a wimp (although to his credit when I shared this fear with him he said, "You think I didn't know you were a wimp BEFORE I married you????). HA!

After the football game we drove to SLC and stayed at a Hyatt at about 90th south. It had the BEST mattress.  We watched Saturday morning pre-game shows for a while. I went shopping at TaiPan.  We had Breakfast.  We headed out. At one point I was so nervous my lips were seriously tingling.

Our first stop was the movie theatre at Jordan Commons.  I could handle this. We watched "Contagion" on IMAX. I have a dark side. I love dystopian movies.  And I am a germ freak. Awesome combination for me.  There was not another soul in the theatre so I can brag that my honey rented out the entire IMAX theatre for our anniversary.

After that we headed up to Snowbird. I had never been there before.  We checked into the lodge and then hiked down to whatever awaited me.  This is the first thing I saw:

Yes. Ambulances.  And a firetruck.  Not a good sign.

But obviously because I'm typing this you know I survived. And really, my family must think I'm an even bigger wimp than I really am because everything we did was way fun and not even a big deal. There was no self-talking necessary :). We rode the zip-line and the alpine slide. Darren teased me how slow I went down the slide but was proud of me for doing it. I had to laugh as I didn't even consider it scary. I mean it has a BRAKE for heaven's sake. I did refuse to ride the mechanical bull though. We rode the chair lift up the mountain, hiked through the tunnel to the other side, and then hiked the switchbacks up to the Gondola to ride back down. There was still snow up there. The leaves were amazing. The sky was so blue.  We saw a moose. We had so much fun.

After our fun on the mountain we drove back down to Sandy and had FABULOUS dinner at Mt Fiji's.  We had sushi and gyoza's and tempura and miso soup and fabulous teriyaki chicken.  We will definitely eat there again.

We drove down to visit Darren's parents for a while and watched the end of the USU game against Colorado.

We stayed the night at Snowbird, had an awesome Sunday breakfast, and arrived late to David and Gaile's mission farewell (sorry... but hey it was our anniversary! Did you really expect anything different???)

Anyway, so that is the story of how I thought I may die but ended up being okay after all.

THANKS DARREN!! 
Happy Anniversary!!

LOVE YOU :)

How lucky am I?

Darren and I were both up way too late last night....  just couldn't sleep for some reason.
Darren was watching LOST and I was cyber-stalking.

This morning it was really hard to get up... which was a problem as we both had to be to work at 7. I could not be late as I needed to be in Cedar by 9.

(SIDE NOTE:  Our family could NOT function without my parents.  Seriously.  Around December, my dad found out that I'd been sent a letter from the school regarding the fact that N already had 14 tardies. FOURTEEN!!!  My dad took it upon himself to come every morning and takes the littles to school.  EVERY MORNING.  Thank you dad for showing your love through both word and deed).

I leave home first and get to the office and grab the keys to the state car. It's 7:15 so I'm late leaving.  As I'm walking back out of the office to head out of town, Darren is pulling in.  I wave to him across the parking lot as I trot my late bad self to the state car.  Darren detours after me, tells me to get in and start the car, and proceeds to scrape what looked like two inches of stubborn ice off the windshield for me.  I sat in the car and cried and watched the love of my life take care of his bride.

Life is full of blessings both big and small.  So grateful.

While I have not been a faithful blogger, I AM a faithful reader.
I check several sites almost daily to check up on what is new.
One blog that I've missed lately is the site of my sister Regina.

Regina used to be a pretty faithful blogger, but took a break after the death of her sweet dog Rosie.  It was just another tragedy in a list of traumatic things she and her family has endured in the last 12 months.  I have faithfully checked to see if there is a new update from her.

Today I was so happy to see a new note from her.  I read it quickly. Then I read it again.  Then I read it again.

I love my sister.  I want her to find joy.  I love that she is seeking for it.

I can relate to some of the feelings she has.  I question myself a lot lately ... am I being enough of this or enough of that? Am I spending my time in the right way? Am I spending my money in the right way?  Am I spending my energy in the right way?  And the answer usually is NO.  I'm not.  I dream of selling my house and downsizing so I have more money to spend traveling and giving the kids more opportunities.    I dream of not working so much.  I dream of having more time to spend on things I really love.  In other words I want a more simple life.  And I really could have those things.  But then in my mind I outline the life changes I would need to make and the steps I would need to take (the reality check of it all). And it all sounds so big and scary that I end up doing (wait for it). NOTHING.  And I have to realize I'm just not brave enough.  Right now.

So sister, I wish you luck on your journey. You have guided me many times in my life and I still look to you.

Below is a video of a song that the Young Women in our ward sang for New Beginnings in January. The song really touched my heart.  We have the CD and I listen to this song often.  It makes me happy.  (The video is a little distracting so I would actually recommend closing your eyes and just listening to the beautiful lyrics.)  The first time I heard it, I immediately thought of Regina as this is a message I wanted to share with her.  But I didn't.  I didn't want her to take it wrong.  But after her bold blog and her statements in it, I feel like it is now okay. So thank you Sister.

Want to hear my exciting idea??? I am making a family photo album based on the lyrics of this song.  Picture it . . .  it is going to be amazing.  And it has me excited.   And I like that feeling.

So sister.  Here's to you.  With love.