Pioneer Day

Last night as I was moving the sprinkler around to manually water the lawn and feeling sad that we didn't make it up to the local junior high school for the fireworks show this year, I heard a loud boom, looked up and realized that I had a bird's eye view of the fireworks right from my own driveway! I went to the back yard and sat on my deck and watched the show. It wasn't as loud as being right under the fireworks, but it was a good show nonetheless!!

I was grateful that I had a chance to feel patriotic for a little bit!!!!

Blame it on the Rain (yeah yeah!)

Okay- I admit. I'm a slacker. I wrote in my journal an entire page, hand written, every single day of my life for 18 months as a missionary and never missed a day. That was when practically the same thing would happen every day- wake up, get ready, eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach a little, eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach, then eat, walk a lot, meet new people, teach, then go home, fall in bed and sleep. Next day would start the same routine again--- I somehow found something to write an entire PAGE about every day of my life then. But now, I'm married, starting a new life and adventure with Paulo, and somehow I can't find anything to write about, or better yet- discipline myself enough to sit down for even 5 minutes to recap the day every once in a while. Alas, I'm turning over a new leaf.
We just had a great week last week with my family all being here in Utah for Kay and Cameron's wedding (yes, my oldest niece has gotten married- those of you who know her can now pick yourself up off of the floor and continue reading!) and as I said goodbye to all of them I felt guilty for not keeping in touch with them more like I should. Life is full of daily reminders of what I can do better, so instead of feeling sorry for myself upon discovering yet ANOTHER one of my weaknesses, I'll just try harder to be better :)
I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from the year so far- I realize that I have done a lot of amazing things this year and shared none of it with hardly anyone, so this post is going to be a recap of some of the highlights, accompanied by pictures. Feel free to close the window now and get back to work- this might take you a while if you commit to reading on!!!

I put the picture of Rex and Gus Gus to begin with and this is one of the cutest pictures I have of them. Gus Gus, unfortunately, ate something he shouldn't have this last weekend and died. I was really really sad, and will miss the little guy. He was always the agressive big brother but Rex loved it. We'll miss seeing Gus Gus at Nana & Papa's house.





Christmas eve, after joining in the Lancaster festivities, we went over to our good friend, Elizama Vance's house. She just got married to a great guy named Roy, and they now live in Denver. Elizama is a great friend and we miss her a lot. She's a great cook, too- I ate so much that night I seriousy thought that I was going to explode. Good times with great friends- that's what we're all about!

Munna also had a fun Christmas- we put a Christmas tree up downstairs where she stays now (the stairs got too hard for her to manage). Santa was very nice to her this year!

We had a rockin' New Years at our house. Kay and Elizama were both flyin' solo without their men so we had a fantastic dinner and danced in the new year. It was seriously one of my favorite new years eves in a LONG time!!

Our 1st Anniversary came way faster than I expected- time flies when you're having fun I guess!!! We went out to dinner and then came back and ate the cake topper from our reception. Surprisingly, the cake was still really good!!! We kept it around and finished the whole thing over the next couple of weeks!

Is my husband cute or WHAT??? He painted one of the bedrooms one day and took this picture for me to see that he was thinking about me while he did it :) This is why I love him so much!

I never knew having a dog would be so fun. Rex keeps us on our toes, and is such a fun little friend to have around!!! My favorite thing about Rex is how he begs- he gets up on his hind legs and acts like he's praying with his front paws. It's pretty danged cute!!

Our primary class has been a blast this year- we just split our ward so we're not sure if we will still be their teachers which makes us sad. They're sweet kids and keep us on the ball on Sundays!! We just got called back to the Primary tonight which we are THRILLED about, since our ward was just split and we weren't sure where our responsibilities would land. Sadly, though, only 3 of the kids in this picture will still be in our classs if we keep the same age group :(

If you were at our wedding recption, you know that Brazilians know how to have a good time. Anywhere Brazilians are gathered, no matter what the occasion, they will eventually break out into dancing. It's one of the things that I love most about my new heritage!

We were lucky enough to score tickets to the Sunday Morning session of General Conference in April- it's always so great to go there and be a part of such a big huge event!!!

With Kay getting married in July, Christi made a trip out from Pennsylvania in March and we went with her to pick out a wedding dress! She tried on lots of different styles, but thankfully she ended up picking up a really classic and elegant dress!!!

Paulo went to Brazil for a week in March while I stayed home and cleaned the house like a crazy person. I missed him like CRAZY but it was fun for him to go and visit his family and have alone time.

Just before Kay got married we had her bridal shower at Gardener Village and after I took some pics of Christi and her girls- they turned out so beautiful!!!

Ok I've run out of steam. I'm going to upload pictures from Kay's wedding and our trip to Brazil onto my Facebook account, so if you're not on my friends' list, send me a request. Hopefully I will do better in the future at keeping our blog up to date!!!