Broadhead Family

Life List

2010-06-18T12:05:00.002-06:00

So my friend Martha inspired me to write a "Life List" it is the same thing as a bucket list, just 100 things that I want to do in my LIFE. So far I have 62 things written down and I'm coming up with new things everyday. (I have my list displayed on the left side bar to show my progress)

When I started I told Craig about it and he is writing a list too...and then we have one combined list of things to do together. Craig had a GREAT idea that every birthday we should cross of at least one item off our list. I am so excited to do that now to pick what we will do for my birthday coming up in September...hmmm.

I want to encourage anyone else out there to create a Life List because it really helps center you on your goals and ambitions...and what you TRULY wish to accomplish in this short life we have.

May

2010-06-01T10:13:00.001-06:00

The month of May has been FULL of FUN TIMES! We started the month with a BLOCK PARTY. It was a GREAT way to get to know our neighbors. Then Hunter and I took a two week Mommy and Me SWIM LESSON class. It was so much fun, and one of my friends and her son were in the class too. Hunter really enjoys the water and is an AWESOME kicker.
I had my first OFFICIAL Mothers Day which was amazing, we had our friends Josh and Melody (friends from college) were visiting and Craig and Josh made strawberry pancakes for breakfast. Then at church 2nd and 3rd hour all the women got to meet together and we had lunch, chatted, and had a spiritual message. It was so fun! After church we went down to the beach ... it was a great day.
I had my first Scentsy party, which was so fun (check me out at WantWickless.com).
Craig and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on the 13th! Aunt Donna was coming out for the weekend and flew in on our anniversary so she was nice enough to watch Hunter while Craig and I went to Dave and Buster's for dinner and FUN games.
We then had a SUPER FUN time with Donna. We went shopping, got pedicures, went to the park/lake, and went out to eat...it was just so much fun hanging out with her.
Hunter got his first BUZZ CUT. We just did it at home with our clippers. I was sad...but it looks good and is even now.
We have had LOTS of fun times with our new friends here in Irvine. We have had friends over for dinner, gone to the Lagoon, watched the Lakers game, gone to the beach, and just hung out. We love it here...it is DEFINITELY home!!!
Craig and I took Hunter to his FIRST Baseball game...he did good the whole time. He cheered, watched the players, and the jumbo screen, he even like the fireworks afterwards.
Craig and I went with Josh and Melody to go see The Lion King...and it was AMAZING...LOVED it.
It has DEFINITELY been a GREAT month.

HOME

2010-01-18T15:07:00.003-07:00

So we have MOVED and we are now snuggled up in our home enjoying the rain. We moved to our new house on Friday....well actually we drove here late Thursday night and slept on small mattresses and unloaded the refrigerator from the truck at 130 in the MORNING! Then we had some people from the Elders Quorum coming around 5pm on Friday so durring the day we got some smaller things accomplished. Then when the Elders came the 26' moving truck was quickly unloaded and everything was inside our house. Luckily I planned ahead and had the rooms labeled so I was able to direct traffic and get all the boxes in the right rooms. Saturday morning before we had to return the moving truck we went to Costco to pick up some needed furniture. We bought a new Cal-King bed for us (it is our Christmas present to ourselves), a new entertainment center for our TV and a new couch for our back living room (aka projector room).

Then right when Craig and Brent were on their way to drop off the moving truck my parents arrived to help us unpack our home. So FIRST things FIRST I gave them the royal tour of the house, and then off to work! AMAZINGLY with the help of my parents, Brent, Craig and myself we were able to get basically the ENTIRE house unpacked and put together!!! We even got all our family pictures up on the wall...in just 2 short days). Honestly the only thing left to unpack is 3 boxes of books, a box in the office, and our DVDs (which don't have a new home yet so they will stay in the bin anyway). There are still some things that need to be organized a little better but everything is put away already...I cannot even believe it.

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for coming to help unpack and entertain Hunter. It was definitely a successful weekend.

I will take some pictures and post them today.

Hunter's Life Book

2009-09-07T00:37:00.005-06:00

So I have been keeping a little journal each day of Hunter's life...it is kind of a note from me to him about what he did that day. They are short and sweet but it is a nice way to document his life. Since I have been writing these I decided that I could put them on a blog and anyone who is interested in what Hunter has been up to. That way I don't have to feel too bad if I do not get posts on our blog each week because I will have this updated...including at least one picture each day...since I take a million a day!

So if you are interested it is HunterFrank.blogspot.com

Note: I have all of the post scheduled to post in the next few days...I am still adding photo's to them so if you check this week they may not all have photo's but check back later and I will get to it as I can.

Our Baby is BORN!

2009-08-24T16:59:00.009-06:00

Hunter Frank Broadhead was born on August 5, 2009 at 2:51am. He was 8lbs. 4oz. and 20" long.
20 hours of labor and over 2 hours of pushing. We went in on Tuesday morning to get induced...but the induction took a lot longer than I thought it would because I was already in labor, so I think they went about it a little differently. But all went well and Hunter came out happy and healthy.

First eye open:

Snug as a bug:

More stories, info, and pictures to come later!

My first BABY dream....

2009-06-20T10:17:00.006-06:00

So, I have had dreams about the baby in my belly before but last night I had my first dream about HAVING the baby! And seeing his CUTE face! Of course since it was a dream it had some weird aspects too it but it was so neat to have a dream about our little guy actually coming into the world!!!!! It must be coming soon if I am having those dreams now (only 8 more weeks til my due date).

Brief dream synopses (because dreams are crazy...I wont go into much detail) but the gist of it was Craig and I were doing some traveling in the car with my family and then it was TIME TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL. Checked in and waited for a room for a while, (during which time Craig made friends with other people waiting to have a baby too). Then it was time for the delivery, which in my dream was pretty quick and not too painful (aren't dreams GREAT!). Then I went into the room with my family to tell them we had the little guy BUT oddly they were all kind of preoccupied and talking amongst themselves even when I brought the baby in my mom was the only one who's attention I could get (obviously that probably came from being the baby of the family and having to raise my hand to talk sometimes). Then I was trying to find Craig...don't know where he ran off too and called Bianca and she was out buying dinner for everyone to eat at the hospital (what a good friend)....BUT the BEST part of the dream was when the nurse brought him in to meet everyone and I got to see his CUTE round little face and his PIERCING BLUE eyes (it will be interesting to see if that is how he really will be???? WHO KNOWS???)

We are getting SO excited for the little guy to come. I have been FRANTICALLY trying to get EVERYTHING ready. I have been organizing our office, files, closets, pantry, garage, etc etc. cleaning everything, buying things for the baby, hanging pictures up on the wall, decorating the house, and so much more. Let's just say I am NESTING! FOR SURE!!! But I must admit I really like that nesting quality that comes out because I have gotten so manything done lately...even projects that I NEVER get around too like backing up all my photos on my computer onto disc and putting them in the fire proof box!

Here is a picture of my belly 2 weeks ago @ 30 weeks (I have gotten so much bigger already). The baby and me are growing so fast...we are going to try and take a picture every Sunday from now until the baby comes.

The nursery is coming together. For those who don't know the theme is "Vintage Family Farm" I know it is kind of different but I want it to be that way. I don't want you to walk in there and see cartoons all over everything...I want it to be kind of sophisticated (for a nursery of course). So, what I'm going for is I want you to feel like you are inside and old farm house with quilts and old milk jugs and crates, etc. I will of course post pictures when it is all done. We got the crib a few weeks ago and put it together, I got a dresser from my parents which I need to paint, my mother in law baught me a rocker, and I just ordered the changing table and the crib bedding. I CAN'T WAIT for those items to get here.

So that is pretty much all that is going on around here. Business is BUSY and we are just getting ready to have a BABY in our house before we know it. We also have been watching a birthing class on DVD...it is really fun and informative...and has really helped me RELAX. I have been so nervous about labor and delivery (all the unknows) but watching these birthing classes have given me more knowledge on the subject and therefore helped ease some of my fears.

Ever GROWING belly

2009-04-28T21:45:00.000-06:00

So I am 24 weeks along (5+ months) and my belly is getting bigger and bigger by the day! It is funny for me to look back over my pregnancy so far and see how much my body has changed. I remember at 9 weeks is when I first noticed my belly looking different, of course at that point I was the only one who could tell, I tried to show Craig but he couldn't really see it until a few weeks later. At 14 weeks we had both sets of parents in town to help us paint our new home and they could tell I was preggo...so that was exciting.

Now people who don't know me very well can tell I'm pregnant but it was so annoying for the past month and a half I have felt like "geeze I'm totally showing" but only my close friends and family have been able to notice, and since it is my first pregnancy I am all excited about it and want to flaunt it. So now I am more than half way through and people are starting to notice...HOORAY!

I am also feeling our little guy move around a lot now. He is an active little one...especially when mommy wants to go to bed! Although he keeps me up some times it is VERY fun to feel him moving around inside me, it makes him so much more real. I actually started feeling him at about 16+ weeks. At that point it was just a small flutter but it was him in there, not indigestion. Now he is big enough were other people can feel him and see him...it is so strange to see your belly just pop up with a baby kick.

So, things are progressing well with the pregnancy and Craig and I can't wait for our little guy to be here...we are just trying to get everything READY before he comes.

Baby BUMP Update

2009-04-04T17:04:00.006-06:00

So I have FINALLY reached the HALF WAY MARK in my pregnancy. Our little guy is doing GREAT, I have been seeing the doctor a lot the past few weeks. My doctor referred me to a high risk OB because of my history of heart "problems" (for those who don't know I have these weird episodes once in a while which include crazy heart palpitations but it is nothing to worry about...I'm healthy). So I went to see the high risk doctor (Dr. Steiger) on March 25th, Craig was out of town but my mom came to town to go with me to the doctor. It was a wonderful appointment, calmed all my fears...he said I can have as many kids as I want, and that my "episodes" wont effect my little guy at all (he said if I can stand up during my episodes then there is enough blood flow to get to me and the baby). The only thing he told me is that I HAVE TO have an epidural to keep my heart rate low (DARN ;o)

What was so FUN about that appointment was the ultrasound (who doesn't love an ultrasound) and they have one of the ones that does the 3D it was neat to see him again. It has only been a few weeks since my first ultrasound and he has gotten so much BIGGER in just a few weeks. It was fun to see him and all his ribs, and feet, and his PROFILE (which we couldn't really see last time...not totally developed). Also, when we first started the ultrasound he was playing peek-a-boo with us...he had his arm up over his eyes and then pulled it down to say hi, then back up again.

Here he is in "3D" (Note: it's not really 3D it is just made to look that way, so things in front of him look like they are on top of him or touching him but they aren't)

I think he is SO CUTE! I can't wait to meet him...He is going to be so much fun and DEFINITELY an active one...he is constantly swimming in my belly.
So here I am...21 weeks along. I have another ultrasound tomorrow...and CRAIG GETS TO COME!!! We are so excited to see our little guy!
This picture was an accident...Craig was snapping away on the camera and caught this...but I think it shows how big my belly is the best.

Homemade and FREE

2009-03-24T13:58:00.000-06:00

Here is the deal: The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2- What I make will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do whatever I want!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers. So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Let the games begin!

My new sweet baby - Who Knows!

2009-03-11T23:28:00.004-06:00

What do you think about my little new baby Who Knows?
MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?

It's a BOY!!!!!

2009-03-06T12:30:00.003-07:00

Yesterday (3/5) we had our first ULTRASOUND! and it was the BEST!!! It was SO fun to SEE our little boy swimming around inside me (he is an active little boy too). He was having so much fun in there. Fist he was LOOKING right at us wondering who was out there looking in on him, and then he started putting on a SHOW for us! He is going to be such a HAM with our jeans in him. At one point he was all STRETCHED out and the Doctor said it looked like he was hanging out on the beach relaxing! (My doctor is AMAZING by the way...I love her...she is so much fun too) Also, our little guys is not SHY at all! He was very cooperative in giving us a nice shot of what he's packin'. Which I was SO excited about because I felt like EVERYTHING was on hold until I found out the sex of the baby (it's hard to pick out bedding and strollers and highchairs until you know).

Here is a picture of his SPINE:

We also got to hear his heart beat, which was so strong. During the ultra sound when the doctor was measuring the heart beat it was 160 (which is normal for a baby...Normal range is 140-160) So, it was on the HIGHER end of normal, because he was swimming around showing off for us but when we were listening to his heart beat after the ultrasound it was about 143 because he had calmed down a bit...but not too much because he did give us a little KICK while we were listening in, which was so fun to hear. This picture of his heart is kind of hard to see but that circle is his belly and the 2 dark spots inside the circle (pointed out by the arrow) is his heart.
The 2 circles in this image are his head and his belly. The one on the left is his head and then on the right is his belly.
So that is our CUTE little boy. We can't wait for him to get bigger and come out of my belly. I am excited to start to feel him more, I have felt him a few times but he is only about 5 inches long and 6 ounces. We will definitely post all of his glamor shots on the blog as they come along. We have our next appointment in April so don't hold your breath.

16+ Weeks

2009-03-04T21:50:00.002-07:00

So I am 16 weeks along now and I am SHOWING (a lot in my book, but hey it is my first pregnancy). I actually first started to see my belly getting bigger at 9 weeks but of course I was the only one who could see that. At 13/14 weeks both sets of parents were in town to help us paint our house and I was showing enough for them to see my belly. It was actually fun because sometimes my belly gets bigger over night and one of those nights happened to be while my mom was here so it was fun to show her.

So here is my 16 weeks picture...people at my ward were making fun of me saying I'm not showing at all, and a girl who just had a baby was saying she looked more pregnant than me but COME ON if your preggo belly sticks out further than your boobs I think I am showing.

Also, I haven't bought any maternity clothes yet because my friend is letting my borrow her "Bella Bands" So I can wear my normal pants UN-BUTTONED! It is so nice. What is CRAZY and shows how my belly is growing is up until yesterday I have been able to zip up my pants half way but YESTERDAY I was getting dressed and I couldn't zip my pants up AT ALL!!! Talk about a big belly! It is SO different seeing your body change like this...but exciting at the same time.

In the morning I have my FIRST doctors appointment (I know, I know it is late, DON'T even get me started on why...it is a bunch of Insurance DRAMA), but I am SO excited and nervous at the same time. We are going to do ALL the different exams...I am SO excited to see and hear the baby, AND they might be able to tell the sex of the baby.

And even though I have been a HORRIBLE blogger lately I will DEFINITELY be posting info from the appointment tomorrow.

We are HOME OWNERS!

2009-01-16T18:14:00.008-07:00

So here are some pictures...they aren't the best just because when we are going around looking at homes we just snap quick shots to remember what the house is and what kind of work it needs etc.
This house is GREAT...it is 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 3 car tandem garage, large yard, and does not have many damages...all it needs is a good cleaning and fix a few chips in the walls and new paint. (not bad at all...especially compared to some homes we have looked at). It is a foreclosure home and there was only one other owner, and from the original price to what we bought it for...we got it for less than half the price! Talk about bargain shopping!

Also, I found the website with pictures of the model and the floorplan...I didn't want to copy the pictures because they turn out to small so if you want to see the floorplan, etc check out this link: http://visit-indio-new-homes.com/plan2.html

We can't WAIT to get in there. We love the house we are in right now but since it is a rental you can't get too attached. Escrow is going to close pretty quickly but the timing is just PERFECT. We will be able to clean it up, get it painted and move in just as our lease here is ending and we wont have to double pay at all...YAY!

Leggo My EGGO...

2009-01-15T09:48:00.006-07:00

We are EXPECTING!!!! We found out on December 12, 2008 and we waited until Christmas to tell our Families…it was a FUN Christmas surprise! We are due on August 17, 2009 which makes me 9 weeks along (aka…I have a LONG way to go). We are very excited. Things are going well so far…no problems and I am feeling pretty good.

To read more about the pregnancy check out my pregnancy journal: http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/babybroadhead/

This is the FIRST test ...taken on 12/12/08 and then we waited a couple of days to take two more tests. And of course I had to get the FANCY one that said "pregnant" on it.
HOORAY!!!
How we told our parents. I made a puzzle that had our picture on it and said the word “Baby” and “Expecting” and “Aug 2009.” It was so fun to watch my parent try and put it together and figure it out. Here is what the puzzle looks like. The silouette picture is up in St. George at Thanksgiving and the other picture of the two of us is taken at Jon's (my bro-in-law) Birthday dinner (12/12) the day we found out we were pregnant.

Stake Temple Night

2009-01-10T10:18:00.004-07:00

Last night (1/9) was our Stake Temple night and Craig and I went with a friend of ours Shad Lamm (He is the Elders Quorum Pres. and Craig is the 2nd Counselor). We were VERY excited to go because it was our first time back to the Redlands Temple since May 13, 2006 (Our WEDDING day). It was so nice to be at that Temple again. We got there a little late so we did sealings instead of an endowment session and I am SO glad we did...here is why: First of all we were in one of the smaller sealing rooms and the sealer was a Bro. Donald Bigler. My sister is a Bigler so we talked to him for a few minutes and he knows Jon's (my bro in law) parents Bert and Kris Bigler. They are related down the line a little bit but it was fun that he knew them. And he told me "You tell your sister to come down and visit me at the Temple." So Tara...I guess I will have to give you a free baby sitting night so you and Jon can go do some sealings with your relative.
The second reason why it was SO wonderful was that after we had spent about a half and hour with Bro. Bigler he needed to be somewhere else so they sent us to the BIG sealing room on the other side of the Temple, which was the room that Craig and I got sealed in...HOORAY! And on top of that all the sealer in that room...his name sounded strangely familiar...Bro. Sorenson...he SEALED Craig and I. We verified this when we spoke with him asking if he had been the Temple President at the LA Temple and he said YES! So we knew it was him!!! It was so need to be in the Temple that we got sealed in 2.5+ years ago, in the same sealing room with the same sealer, doing the work for other....SUCH a GREAT experience!!!! So, we spoke with him a little bit more afterwards and he said that we look familiar and he asked me "Is he being good to you?" and of COURSE I said YES! It was a GREAT night.

Long awaited posts

2009-01-07T22:59:00.003-07:00

Our loss...
For those who do not know, we lost our dog Cricket from a car incident. It was very tough losing a good friend. There is a plan and a reason for his passing that we would like to know the reason but that is what this life is all about - a giant frigging tough test. We have cherished every moment with him.

The Holidays

On Christmas morning we went over to Tara and Jon's to watch Allie open her presents with Dave and Claudia since they were staying with us. What Cyndi did not know is that I had a surprise lurking for her also. As she was eating a cinnamon roll and chillin on the couch Jon had let the dogs in the house and she heard a noise coming toward her and to her dismay it was a little black dog with a green bough. She literally jumped back when she saw the dog. The reaction on her face was priceless.

On New Years Day, Cyndi and I woke up at 4 AM! We drove to Pasadena to meet up with Dave and Claudia to watch the all-famous Rose Parade. It was a neat experience. At the start of the parade a stealth bomber flew right over us and that was a cool experience to see something like that so close up. They really went all out with the floats considering they are made of all organic material like roses (hence the name, Rose Parade). There was about 85 different floats and a bunch of marching bands.

After the parade, we went to Ventura for a day to go to Michelle's wedding reception and helped Bianca and Ethan move to Idaho. Or, I mean attempt to help them move since they were already packed up by the time we got there.

On our way back home to Palm Desert I realized that the Jazz were playing the Lakers in LA that night. So I said, why dont we go to the Lakers game on the way home? We ended up driving down there and trying to get some tickets at the booth but the cheapest tickets they had were $225 a piece. Talk about a rip off so we drove home instead.

Allie's Program

2008-12-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday (11/25) Tara called me on her way to take Allie to Pre-School and asked me if I wanted to go with her to see Allies Thanksgiving program. I of course said YES and I am so glad I went. It was so much fun to see her at her school and being so BIG singing songs and she looked so cute in her turkey hat, and then of course there was YUMMY food. She did so good and then we all had fun at the playground after, which was FUN! The playground has some "adult" toys too...exercise equipment...and it is kind of fun.
This picture of Allie at the table is my favorite because that smile is for ME! She was so excited to see me at her school she got a HUGE grin!

Thanksgiving weekend

2008-12-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

This Thanksgiving was the BROADHEAD's year and Craig's family was spending this wonderful holiday in St. George, UT. (which was better for us because we could drive there instead of having to buy $900 plane tickets to Walla Walla) We drove up LATE Wednesday (11/26) night (I had to go to opera rehersal so we left at 10pm...yuck) luckily I have an amazing husband who drove through the night to get us there...while being SO safe. We arrived at 5am (mountain time) caught a few ZZZ's before getting up to great everyone. We stayed with Craig's Uncle Paul and Aunt Darla and their kids (they are a GREAT family) and Craig's G'ma and G'pa Broadhead live right around the corner from them. Kent (Craig's Dad) made us YUMMY cinnamin rolls for breakfast and we enjoyed catching up with everyone. Craig and I actually had a pre-turkey nap since we got in so late (or should I say early) and magically when we woke up JTHANKSGIVING dinner was READY! The food was AMAZING!

We had such a fun time with everyone...Kayden (one of Craig's cousins...don't know how to spell his name) had this CRAZY geco that Craig held.

We also played Rock Band, a boardgame called Ticket to Ride (which I now want), played with the dogs (they have a cute little dog named Charlie), watched movies, and enjoyed singing together (G'pa, Paul, and Kent all love to sing). Cricket LOVED all the attention...and enjoyed G'ma and G'pa

On BLACK Friday...we did a little bit of shoping (very little...it's too crazy these days). Kent did some black Friday shopping for some SWEET gifts, and since we are not going to be with them this Christmas he decided to give us our present that day. He got us a Playstation 3 (which is also a BlueRay player). Craig of course was stoked...he has wanted one for over a year. So we were very happy and felt very lucky that he would buys us such a BIG gift, but then everyone was joking about how the gift is really just for Craig (because Playstation games are too hard for me...too many buttons to press). SO, when we were packing up our cars to get ready to go Kent said "Cyndi, since the playstation is mostly for Craig here is something for you." and he starts pulling something out of his car. It was the top of the line Mono-Pod (like a tri-pod but only one leg)...I was WAY excited because I have actually wanted one for a long time. We are so LUCKY...Thanks SO Much!!!!! Also, on Friday Craig, Cricket, and I took a little walk/hike in the red rock mountains, which was SO fun...it was funny to see SO many families taking their family pictures there. So we took a couple self portraits.

One of my FAVORITE moments of the weekend was G'pa and Craig playing the Saxaphone together. Craig played the the Sax from middle school until his freshman year so he was a LITTLE rusty but it was still so fun to see them do it together. G'pa hasn't played in 6 years or so (he plays the guitar the most now) and even though it has been a while he still busted out a few songs...it was such a wonderful moment!

G'pa has 2 saxaphones...they are both old and beautiful...but the older one just AMAZES me...
We had SUCH a great time with the BROADHEADS! Here is a picture before we took off of everyone but Darla (someone has to take the picture right?)
Of course we stoped by G'ma and G'pa's before we left to say good bye and have a nice little visit. G'pa sang us a fun song about getting old and we all sang some Christmas Carols together. They are such WONDERFUL people. We love you G'ma and G'pa BROADHEAD!
All the Broadhead boys...3 generations.
On Saturday (11/29) instead of going straight home we stopped in Las Vegas to visit with Tricia and her family and my parents who where there for Thanksgiving. We took the boys to the Bellagio to see the gardens...it was amazing!

We then went to see a "Gingerbread City" thinking that it was going to be a huge thing that we could walk through or something like that come to find out it was tiny but hey...it was an adventure. Shane and Uncle Craig had some fun even though the "city" was a dud.
Trevor...so disappointed.

But we finished the evening off with a fun event...the Clark County Million lights drive...It was so cool. First we saw Frosty before we paid. Then it was TONS of different light displays.
Such as ELVIS...what is Vegas with out Elvis?
Choo Choo Trains with toys...
And of course Santa Bringing them to you down the chimney. It was a fun evening with the boys (Tricia and Damon went out for his birthday)...after all the adventures we went back to their house and watched Meet Dave.
On the way home...through the short cut we looked for the Shoe Tree (which we knew about from Tara and Jon who had seen it before). We have taken this route but never seen it until NOW...Unfortunately some of the branches have fallen due to the weight of all these CRAZY shoes but it is still interesting.

Opera Weekend

2008-12-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

My parents and Bianca came down to visit on Friday (12/5) they got here in time to see our Ward Christmas Program (that Craig and I helped plan). Everyone had a good time. I wasn't able to stay the whole time because I had to get over to the College of the Deserts (COD) for OPENING night of La Boheme. On Saturday (12/6) morning we all (Mom, Dad, Craig, Bianca, Tara, Allie and I) all ran over to Lowes to pick up a Christmas tree, and while the boys paid the MONIES and loaded up the tree...the girls headed over to Sam's Club to buy some ornaments. Then I had to rush over to COD for the 2pm matinee. In between the two shows I came home to decorate the tree and help make dinner.
Tara, Mom and Allie went to a Parade of Lights in Palm Springs. Then EVERYONE came to my 8pm show. Tara, Craig, Bianca and Allie had to leave after the 3rd act since it was SO late for Allie. I was a Strolling Fruit Vendor in the opera. On Saturday Mom and Allie made a Birthday cake for Jon. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday. (I made some pumpkin bread in the morning). We had a fun evening all together. We had Beebe Taco's for dinner and played Holiday Bingo, ate cake and ice cream, and then watched Amazing Race and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES! Then Mom, Dad, and Bianca took off back to Ventura.Allie Decorated the cake all by herself and put the candels in too. Jon liked it a lot.
Bianca and I had fun being silly together. We were laughing because the flotties matched our outfits.

Don't know what's better?

2008-12-10T22:39:00.001-07:00

Since trying to "CATCH UP" on my blogging isn't working so well I am going to start from the most resent and go backwards until I get everything that I want to blog about done...AND this time I am actually going to BLOG since I am done with the opera I have more free time in the evening.

Cricket SINGING!

2008-12-05T17:43:00.003-07:00

A long time ago I was singing "If ever I should leave you" from Camelot as I was washing my hands and I heard a strange sound behind me...it was Cricket HOWLING!!! It was so funny so I sang the same HIGH note and he did it again! From then on that has been our entertainment...we will sing to make him howl at us...good times!

Ventura Beach

2008-11-23T12:19:00.007-07:00

On Saturday (9/20) Craig said "lets go to Ventura" he wanted to go spur of the moment right then...I was excited but then realized that I had to teach YW's and go to Ward Council on Sunday so we planed to go the following weekend. We had a very RELAXING time. Bianca and I got pedicures (birthday tradition to take each other) and then went to the Relief Society General Broadcast with my Mom. It was a wonderful broadcast and fun to see Ventura friends. Meanwhile Craig went surfing and went electronics shoping with Ethan and of course came home with something (luckily it was smaller...a Wii game: Star Wars Jedi). That evening we all finished the evening playing games.

On Sunday we relaxed and then Craig, Myself, Cricket, Mom and Dad all went to the BEACH. Craig wanted to hit the waves again and the rest of us just enjoyed the beach. Mom and I took a short walk and found the MOTHER OF ALL SANDCRABS...it was HUGE! Normal sand crabs are about the size of my toenails (varying from the baby toe to the big toe...occasionally...your luck to find one that big) But look at this one...

SCARRY! We were screaming...it was kind of fun. Cricket kept on trying to bite it and it would FREAK out.

I had just recieved by fisheye lens so I wanted to play a littlebit...

All in all it was a nice REALAXING weekend in Ventura...just what we

Elton John's view on Prop 8

2008-11-14T21:08:00.004-07:00

I know elections is all finished up but some people don't think Prop 8 is over. I just thought this view from Elton John is some good information about the difference between marriage and civil partnerships.

Elton John: Heterosexual Couples Have Marriage, Same-Sex Couples Have Civil Partnerships

USA Today published an article yesterday in which Sir Elton John spoke about his position on Proposition 8. John clarified his position on Prop 8 while attending the annual benefit for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He was accompanied by his longtime partner David Furnish, whom he joined in a civil union in 2005. John was quoted as saying, "We're not married. Let's get that right. We have a civil partnership. What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage."

John went on to emphasize that civil unions grant same-sex couples the same rights afforded to married heterosexual couples. He stated, "I don't want to be married. I'm very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership…the word marriage, I think, puts a lot of people off. You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships."

My Birthday

2008-11-11T21:30:00.001-07:00

The day before my Birthday we went with Tara, Jon, and Allie to the bowling alley for a fun evening. We had a great time bowling it up...

Allie had fun bowling and she had such cute poses waiting to see how many pins got knocked down.

After bowling we went home (Craig and I had driven in separate cars since he was out selling we just met at the bowling alley) and we were hanging out in the living room and then Craig said that he forgot to lock the truck and when he came back in he had a cake in his hands and was singing happy birthday....it was 11:58pm and he said oh crap I'm early. He is so cute...he was trying to do it right at midnight...What a sweet husband. So we had a little piece of cake.

So for my actual birthday day I worked as usual and then we had a BBQ that evening with the Bigler's (of course). Since, Craig was busy working I ended up doing a lot of the cooking but it was a great birthday.

As you know I got an amazing new camera for my birthday from Craig and with the money from my parents and Craig's parents I got some accessories for my camera. (Camera case, filters, and a fisheye/wide angle lense)

YES on 8

2008-11-04T15:17:00.008-07:00

On Thursday (10/30) we went out to SUPPORT prop 8 and hold signs on the street. It was actually REALLY fun, and neat to see all the supporters of prop 8 drive by and honk. Get to the polls ASAP!!!! and VOTE YES ON 8!!!

Yes on 8=Traditional Marriage
Yes on 8=Parental Rights
Yes on 8=Religious Freedom
go to:
www.PreservingMarriage.org
www.ProtectMarriage.com

This News clip has our friend Tom Ballantyne in it. He helped organized all the Prop 8 stuff for our ward. And just FYI on the teaching about gay marriage in schools subject that is absolutely TRUE as some teachers have already go through TRAINING on how to do so. Schools should not be teaching our children about marriage that is a PARENTAL RIGHT and the right of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM don't let gay marriage take those rights away. They already have all the RIGHTS as a married couple has...so really for them it is just about the word.

Labor Day ADVENTURES

2008-10-29T09:09:00.000-06:00

For Labor Day weekend my parents and Gramps came down to our house for 2 reasons, to celebrate my upcoming birthday and to hear me sing at church (and to just have fun with the BB's aka Broadhead's and Bigler's).
They got here Saturday morning. We hung out for a while and then mom and I made a delicious dessert for later and then Tara and Allie came over and we had lunch and hung out. Then all the girls went SHOPPING at the DOLLAR TREE and SAM'S Club. It was fun! We then went home and picked up the boys to go out to dinner at Don Diego's to Celebrate my Birthday! It was so fun and YUMMY! There was also a guitar player/singer guys at the restaurant and he came over and sang to us for a while and gave Allie and I some maracas to shake while he sang me a birthday song. I was wearing a yellow shirt so when he sang the Birthday song he said "happy birthday Mellow Yellow" it was some Good Times. After dinner the GIRLS went to the pool and the boys stayed home and watched sports (or something)...us girls love to go play at the pool...we are water babies. After that we came home and had the delicious dessert (which was a Peanut Butter Chocolate Tart from "Aunt Martha") which is to die for and we watched the movie "What Happens In Vegas." It was a fun filled Saturday.
Sunday we had a delicious breakfast, relax for a while and then went off to church. I got to sing for the first time in our new ward. I sang "Oh Lord, My Redeemer" it was a wonderful experience. After church Tara, Jon, and Allie came over for dinner. We had YUMMY salmon, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a delicious salad. We watched Penelope. It was such a nice day.

(no pictures right now from when M&D were there...my Mom took a few pics but I haven't gotten them from her yet...sorry)

My parents had to leave Monday morning :o( but we had some fun times with them. After they left Craig and I got some work done and then we met up with TJandA jumped in their Jeep and started out on some FUN adventures.
Here is what we did 1-went to Bombay Beach, 2-Saw Salvation Mountain, 3-drove through Slab City, 4-drove to the beach (Salton Sea), 5-looked at the MUD pots, 6-attempted to go to the bat caves, 7-checked out a SWEET oasis, and FINALLY 8-went home had Pizza and "cold stones" ice cream.

Photos: Here is the boys (Craig and Jon) at the top and Allie and I on our way up.

And Tara and I at the top of Salvation Mountain. It is such a crazy place this was all done by one man. He has painted this whole mountain and made other structures out of hay and sticks and who knows what else and then paints it. KOOKABERRY!Here is a scrapbook page that I did about it. (Credits-all products by Crissy Armstrong @ A5D)

Here is the Slab City bulletin board, and they have their own church, concert stage, and bar. It is just a bunch of people living in trailers and buses and who knows what else but they don't have to pay for the land so that is why they all gather there its a bunch of cracked out hippies and crazy people.The mud pots were really cool. The boys had so much fun kicking some of the hard mud into the gurgling mud to make it gurgle MORE.

Here is the oasis. The sad thing is is that there was a fire there recently so it's not as beautiful as it use to be. All the palm tree's were black on the outside and the water was a little dark, but it was still really fun to see.
We had such a fun weekend. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming down....and thanks Tara and Jon for taking us on such a fun adventure.

Girls CAMP

2008-10-27T21:54:00.000-06:00

About a month after we moved here I got called as the Young Women Girls Camp Director. Not being much of a camper (love the outdoors but love my bed too) it made me a little nervous. I worried that I wouldn't know what to do or get it all done as camp was fast approaching. Since I couldn't go the entire week myself and the old camp director split the week and the YW Pres. stayed the whole time. The drive up there was so fun, we all took turns asking a question and then we all answered...it sounds kind of lame but it was a great way to get to know each other better. Camp was actually really fun. It was so great to bond with the girls and play and have fun! My girls told me that I was so much fun because I am like one of them...and the other leaders thought so too...if I had a dollar for each time that someone said "I thought you were one of the girls" to me...OMGosh it started to drive me crazy and since I am the baby of the family and already have issuse about wanting to be older and hating being young (I know it's wierd but hey I'm the baby and there is a big gap...I have issues I know). But besides everyone thinking I am one of the kids it was fun. The food was actually really good and they had fruit salad with every meal...delicious. We had fun coming up with cheers to chant before each meal, we did a service project, went to the lake, and had some nice spiritual lessons. It was a great time and I loved getting to know the girls better. It was a GREAT experience and I am actually EXCITED for next year.The service project was to make blankets for kids who will be baptized in the Stake this year...it is supposed to be a "comforter" like the Holy Ghost will be to them.

Venture to VENTURA

2008-10-21T21:36:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to go home to Ventura to visit my parents for a while and now my Gramps is living with them for a few months and so I of course wanted to go up there while he was in town. Then I found out that my sister Tricia was coming to town...SO...I told Craig that I have to go. Since Tara and I live next to each other we decided to go up together. So on Friday (7/25) Tara, Allie, Cricket, and I drove to LA together to meet up with Tricia, Shane, Trevor, and Mom at Griffith Park. The kids enjoyed the Train and Pony rides and we all enjoyed a nice picnic. We then drove to another part of the park were we rode the Merry-go-round and played at a park named Shane's Inspiration. It was such a fun day at the park. After that we went to Ikea and drove back to Ventura.

On Saturday we dug through some boxes in the garage (the goal was to get boxes of fabric to split up between everyone) we found some fun things, lots of memories and stories to be told. Even when we reached our goal of the fabric and started sorting through that there were TONS of stories and memories. There was even fabric from my MOMS prom dress!!!
Saturday we also went to a fun Pioneer Day stake event. They put alot into it and we all had fun seeing old friends. The rest of the weekend was just fun with the family. We had a BBQ of course on Sunday and it was a WONDERFUL weekend!

Behind the TIMES

2008-10-17T22:50:00.005-06:00

I am SO behind on my post. Since this is my journal I have to catch up at some point...so WARNING old news to come soon. This is what I need to post about:

My Birthday
Ventura beach trip
Bianca and Ethan coming down/Conference
Ventura/Moms Birthday
baking
scrapbooking
Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin Patch

Pacific Pest Control

2008-10-01T22:53:00.003-06:00

Finally! Here are some pictures of the daily grind for our technician, Chris. I know pest control may seem bland but this does the job to get rid of all them varmints. But lets face it, we have a license to kill and that is pretty cool. So if you don't want pesky pests and live in Coachella Valley, give us a call! Seriously. 760.610.1020. (Sorry to everyone else living anywhere outside the Valley which is mostly everyone reading this blog).

As far as the business goes, we are keeping our technician busy and at times overbooked so I need to service some homes also.

Recycle

2008-09-26T18:22:00.004-06:00

So I have been collecting my empty water bottles and cans all summer and every time I attempt to take them to the recycle center they are not open. So today we were coming back from some errands (including buying a nice new office chair...hooray!) and saw that they were open so I went home loaded up the ENTIRE trunk (it was 6 full trash bags) and headed on my way.

The sad thing is I didn't make a LOT of money because they don't count each bottle they weigh it so I think I got jipped (what if my bottles weigh less than others) but the up side is that I have $19.30 that I didn't have before! And I get to spend it all on me because Craig doesn't like to recycle so since I do it I get to reap all the benefits. So now I've got to figure out what I WANT to buy with my new found MONEYS!!!

Good bye MOP

2008-09-24T12:07:00.003-06:00

So if you are an avid reader of my blog you know that back in April I go a perm so that I could have more body and grow my hair out longer because I ALWAYS have short hair (because my hair is so thin it looks all scraggly). Anyway, my hair is FREAKIN' LONG now and it is starting to DRIVE ME CRAZY. This is the longest I have had my hair since 4th or 5th grade (um...that is a LONG time). So here is my before pictures...a few wet so you can see how long it really is...

and I know for some people that is not long at all but if you know me you know that this is LONG for me. It usually never touches my shoulders let alone go a few inches past them.
Those pictures are from the last FULL day of having long hair. And these are from today. Before I went to the salon:
and AFTER: Good bye to that MOP of hair!
So the haircut looks ok and I like it but I am a little angry inside, because I am new to the area so I don't know any hair dressers but my neighbor is one so I went to her...well NEVER again. She did a horrible job. It is NOTHING like what I wanted. I wanted a few layers in the back and then a little longer in the front, some soft sweeping long bangs and I got NONE of that. Instead I got a bob and then I asked for more layers and she cute tons of layers and way to short and the banks are freaking ugly and a big chunk instead of soft sweeping...I'm just a little mad right now. I know the haircut will be fine and I will like it more tomorrow and I am glad to have short hair again but I am angry that it is not what I asked for. She is no good and then on top of it all she charged a LOT for a crappy haircut. I am ticked. I should have gone to Tara's girl (I didn't b/c I thought she didn't want anymore clients...come to find out I was wrong she just doesn't want many appointments a day so you might have to wait longer for an appointment...Darn!) Sorry for the VENTING...but I've got to let it out.
Please tell me you like it so I don't feel so bad about it. Thanks! :o)

Got MILK?

2008-09-23T18:24:00.003-06:00

Today I went into the pantry to get something to eat for lunch and I found an interesting SURPRISE...MILK!

Craig and I have our own milk (Fat Free and 2%) and the other day I noticed that Craig's milk was gone and I though to myself "how did he drink/use that much milk so fast?" Well today I found out where his milk went so "FAST." It went into the pantry! I started busting up laughing and I had to take a picture to document this silly event. Craig said that sometimes when he is eating cereal in the morning that he is NOT fully awake and brain cells working and that one day he started pouring his cereal on a PLATE. That boy needs more SLEEP!

BEST husband + Birthday = BEST gift!

2008-09-08T22:01:00.004-06:00

So my 23rd Birthday is Wednesday (SepTEMBER 10th) and today Craig said "Hey, do you want your Birthday present?" and I told him it was up to him since he was the giver. Well a few hours later he decided he could not wait. He told me that it was something that we need for the business but that I will also like. My reply..."REALLY???" I was extremely skeptical when he said it was for business too. Then he said it's a new CAMERA! I'm STOKED!!!!
So we left the office fore a little bit and went shopping for Digital SLR cameras...Well, we found one! It is awesome and I can't wait to play!!!! It's a Nikon D60. 10 megapixles (etc. I wont bore you with details) but I am so excited about this...I have wanted a DSLR for a long time (I told myself that I had to get one at least by the time we have kids...well I got it before...hooray!) I am a lucky (spoiled maybe :o) girl.

Thanks CRAIG! You are the BEST husband in the WORLD! I love you dearly and now we can capture all our memories with this B-E-A-UTIFUL camera!

P.S.-the use of the camera for business is to take pictures for our website.

Our OFFICE has MOVED

2008-09-05T15:14:00.006-06:00

On August 20th our last salesman Devin left for the summer. This meant that we got to have an office in a room not just in the great room. I was very excited because not only does this mean having the house to ourselves but it meant the we got to move furniture around and I got to come up with a furniture plan, decorate (sort of) and organize things. To some that does not sound fun at all but I LOVE it! Devin was nice enough to let us move the desk into his room the night before (so he could help us move it) and then he left the next morning and I got to WORK.
Ok so it isn't beautifully decorated or anything but I love it. It is so nice to have it away from the rest of the house so it actually feels like you are going off to work.

Here is the view from the door..Here is our registration certificate (the cool thing about it is that it has our ACTUAL start date on it...we had people set up to be treated on April 15th and we were just waiting for our registration and we were nervous about starting without being registered so that morning as we were getting breakfast we got a call from the pest control board saying that we were REGISTERED!!! We were so blessed)Here is our map of the Valley-our bed: I would like to get more pillows on the bed so it makes it more like a chase lounge but that will come in time. (I actually want to go find some cute BUG fabric to make pillows with)
Here is the DESK!
The desk placement is nice because I have a nice window view of the pool across the street (well lately I have just been watching them work on it hoping that they will speed things up and get it DONE already!)

Then in the closet we have a little surprise...
Another COMPUTER! This is nice because Craig has been helping me out in the office more and more lately and so it is nice that we can both have a computer and a desk to work at.

So there is the GRAND tour of our new office. We are enjoying it and business is going well. We are very busy, we almost have a full route and Craig has even had to spray a lot this last week because we were so BOOKED UP!

Visiting an Oasis

2008-08-17T22:30:00.003-06:00

This is Craig's first post ever and maybe his last depending on the amount of comments from friends, family, and strangers (so please comment if you want Craig to ever post anything else ever again.

Today we decided to drive out to the mountains of the desert to look for the San Andreas fault line. You know, the place where earthquakes begin because of the shift in the earth's crust and the point where California will crash into the ocean. It turns out we live 15 minutes on the west side of the fault line (I wish I knew that before we moved here..)

A long story short, Devin, Cyndi, and I were driving through the desert and we saw all of these palm trees grouped together like a mini-tropical rain forest so we decided to venture through the jungle. We practically needed macheties to cut through the dark abyss of brush. We never did find the fault line but next time we will.

Brent's Birthday

2008-08-13T09:47:00.004-06:00

Ok so this is long over due, considering Brent's B-day was May 31. OOPS! Got lost in the mix.

So for whatever reason...no one knows...Brent and Devin decided to BIC their heads. They were having so much fun buzzing weird shapes in their head before they cut it ALL off. They really enjoyed there bald heads.
So of course being the SLAVE DRIVERS that we are...everyone worked that day but then afterwards we all went to dinner at...Red Robin (of course). Devin and Brent kept on touching their heads getting use to the baldness. They did enjoy the air conditioning on their heads...kept them nice and cool. Here are the bald boys being silly:
After and enjoyable dinner we had to go buy an ice cream cake for Brent. We got a delicious Peanut butter cup blizzard cake at DQ. And for kicks and giggles we had them write Happy B-day Baldy on it. It was fun.

We took the cake home, dished it up for everyone (after singing to him of course) and then we went out on the patio to enjoy it. A little while later as we are relaxing outside, FIREWORKS start going off right in our back yard. It was an AMAZING show, better than some 4th of July shows. We really enjoyed it, and had fun pretending that we did it for Brent...SURPRISE! We never did find out what they really were for but we had fun watching them. Happy Birthday BRENT!

This is the finally if you can't tell (a million going off at once)

Cricket is HOME

2008-07-16T17:49:00.006-06:00

So we picked Cricket up on Friday (7/11-hi mom) from the Vet at 4pm (after he was neutered) he was so scared on the way home but warmed up once we got home. He quickly started to play and wanted to explore. He soon found the edge of the carpet by the fireplace to start to nibble on so we had to put duct tape down to prevent this and he enjoyed playing with the tape!
At first we were trying to keep him near his kennel and we were all sitting on the hard floor so I brought over the bean bag...and lets just say that Cricket loved it. (and loves me)
Potty training is going pretty well...he doesn't understand that he needs to let me know if he needs to go potty BUT if I take him outside often enough he doesn't have many accidents. We are trying to get him to either go potty outside or in his kennel...and he only had 2 accidents on the CARPET today!!!! He does like it outside though....he really likes nibbling on leaves and sniffing dead bugs (pest control WORKS).
Here he is playing in his kennel...he is warming up to it...but only when people are still around. He still hates it when I leave him completely. But I was cleaning yesterday and he did pretty good...except he did not like the sound of the vacuum. The reason why there is a clock in there is because we read that puppies like the white noise of a clock...it relaxes them.
Cricket playing with his DADDY...He is a crazy pup.

Allie ADORES Cricket and was really happy when he came and sat in her lap. After this picture Cricket started to kiss (lick) her face a lot and Allie was LAUGHING! They both loved it.Cricket looks so cute when sleeps.

I like this picture because his tongue is sticking out a little bit.
So the first night we had a huge dilemma of where Cricket should sleep. We read that if they are in a kennel in a separate room that you should put a blanket over their kennel (but his is too big for that) or have them sleep were they can see you. So we first tried him in the bathtub and he did good falling asleep while we were getting ready for bed but then he woke up at 230am CRYING. So we resorted to the laundry basket...the only problem...he can jump out of it so we had to get a board to put on top of it and then put the basket in between us on the bed. So he still sleeps in the basket with a board on top but we have moved it from between us to a table at table at the foot of the bed.
Here he is jumping out...and he has also learned how to jump in...you wouldn't know it by the way he wines at night but he really likes the basket.
Here is his kennel...and see he is in there playing and the door is open so he does like it. Until I leave (and he is a mamma's boy). Today I left for an hour to go and work out with my friend Claudia (we had fun times), Cricket was crying when I left and when I got back....
He was still crying and had made a mess and pushed his kennel walls out like this. He had also left me a nice stinky poop in there too. I am trying to get him use to me leaving for a short time period and not cry the whole time.
All in all we LOVE Cricket! He is a really good puppy, and we are glad he is in our family.

Pound Puppy

2008-07-09T09:54:00.004-06:00

Just for fun on Sunday (7/6) Craig and I went to the Animal Shelter to look at CATS and DOGS. Craig and I both LOVE cats and have always wanted one but we didn't know if we should get a cat now or not...for a few reasons, 1-in the future when we start to have kids I hear that prego's are not suppose to be around cats, 2-Also I guess cats are not suppose to be around baby's either, (so that is two huge things), 3-two of the guys who live with us are allergic to them. So, we decided to also look at dogs while we were there too. We have always said that if we ever get a dog we want a small dog...something that can be inside and hopefully not so stinky! So at the shelter there were these cute puppy's only 2 months old and they were mini-Dachshund (weenier dog) and chihuahua mixed together. It was a litter of 5...2 girls and 3 boys. We thought they were really cute and since we got there right before they closed we had to come back on Tuesday (they are closed Mondays). So on Tuesday at about 11 we went back to look at those puppies...We soon found out that there were not adoptable until Wednesday and that the one that we wanted already had one hold on it. So we put the second hold on one of the girl puppies...she is so cute and has a heart on her head. So since we were the second hold we had to be their right at our time block (they give each person a one hour time block for their hold). So this morning we went there and she was already adopted! We were so sad. So both of the girls on one of the boys were adopted by the time we got to the pound, and mind you they have only been open for an hour! That tells you how cute these dogs are. So we asked about the two boys if they had any holds on them. They both had one hold each and one of them was up at NOON. So we stuck around until noon and GUESS WHAT? They never showed up! So we got to play with him and we ADOPTED HIM!!!!
He is so cute and such a fun loving character. His name is CRICKET! and he is 2 months old. We don't actually get him until Friday afternoon (he is getting neutered) but we are so excited to have him in our family!
Also, Tara and Allie went to the pound with us because they have been looking for a dog for a while now and I told her about these puppies so she is trying to get the other brother! But she is the second HOLD on it and the first hold is a ho-bag and made their hold from 5-6pm. So Tara and Allie are going to go back there tonight and try and get Cricket's brother. We are so hoping that it works out because that would be so much fun that Tara and I are sisters and our dogs are BROTHERS!!
After we saw them on Sunday we also started to look up info about both of those breads to find out more about them and when I did a search I found out that this mix is common and it actually had a name...they call them Chiweenie's or aka Mexican Hot Dogs! LOL I like it! So we have a little Chiweenie and he is SO CUTE!

Here is CRICKET! These were taken while we were playing with him at the animal shelter. They have a little room that they put you in with your adoptive puppy to see if you like them...and of course we LOVE him.My puppy loves me...and is already good at playing fetch!
Allie was loving Cricket...she kept on saying "my turn to hold the puppy" and she was talking about how the puppy can come over to her house and watch Ratatouille with her.
Proud papa! Craig loves Cricket. When I was on my way to the Animal Shelter with Tara later to look at puppies again Craig called me and said that he was jealous that I was going to see Cricket and that I should bring him a present..."like a big fluffy pillow" ...Craig is so sweet!
Me and my baby...he is so precious. He thinks that my arms are toys and tries to move them around with his paws.
There is our cute puppy...he loves people and wants you to come and meet him!!!!

You HAVE to BUY THESE!

2008-07-07T17:52:00.003-06:00

My new BEST FRIEND is ZIPLOC's Zip & Steam bags! If you have not yet tried them...let me tell you they are HEAVEN sent! It is so easy to use and it even tells you right one the bag how long to cook certain things. (It's a little chart with different meat and veggies and how long to cook it). It is so easy to to cook everything. The BEST recipe I have come up with so far is chicken breast with lemon pepper, Santa Maria seasoning, and lemon slices...it is YUMMY!

Go out and get some! Talk about easy cooking! I think everyone should have these in their cupboards at all times...it's a way to cook quickly without a lot of work...great for the nights that you do NOT want to cook at all...just throw it in a bag and into the microwave. HAPPY STEAMING!

Craft Night

2008-07-07T17:19:00.003-06:00

On Wednesday (7/2) Tara and I had our CRAFT NIGHT! We made little book bags for kids (to go to the library with). I was very excited about this craft because let me tell you it is so stinkin' cute. So we first met up at Wal-Mart to buy a few needed supplies...along with some chex cereal to make MUDDY BUDDIES or what we are calling them now (thanks to Jon and Kate plus 8) "Monkey Munch!!!!" So we then went to Tara's house (we are trading off whose home it is at) and we made the DELICIOUS Monkey Munch and a healthy salad to eat before. So we ate while we watched So You Think You Can Dance? which is such a fun show by the way. FINALLY at 10pm we started our craft. Long story short, this craft takes longer than you think and even with staying up until 2AM we still did not get it finished. So I just barely finished mine last night (7/6) Here it is: (Tara took some other pictures as we were working which I will post when I get them)

It was a fun and super cute craft and I recommend it to EVERYONE!

AMAZED

2008-07-05T15:18:00.002-06:00

On Friday (6/27) Tara and Allie came over for CRAFT NIGHT and Allie had not been over since we got the projector screen...So she wanted to watch a movie and the TV was sitting on the floor and she was saying "put it up" on the TV stand so she could watch a movie and I told her that I had a new "special TV" and I turned on the movie with the projector and her eyes LIT UP like it was Christmas morning! She loved it!!!! She enjoyed every minute of it. Sitting there with her popcorn. She also liked when she found out that if you walk in front of the projector you make a shadow in the picture...At one point I caught her flexing and looking at her muscles in the shadow. It was so cute. Jon also came over later and we had a little PIZZA party. Which was fun. As for our craft....it did not work out so well.

BUT we have had another craft night since which went a lot better. We are not quite done with it yet so we will be posting about it later.

Here is Allie so excited about the BIG SCREEN!

So excited and SO SILLY!...That is popcorn in her mouth.

FAVORITE pants

2008-06-28T21:49:00.002-06:00

Today (6/28) Tara, Allie, and I went to Target and Henry's Farmers Market together and while at Target I got the FUNNEST new capri's! I'm so excited about them...they are super comfy and such a FUN BRIGHT green. Check 'em out!

New Calling

2008-06-28T21:38:00.003-06:00

A few weeks after we got to the DESERT I got called as the Young Women's Camp Director for our ward. So I will be going to Girls Camp this summer. Here they like to certify the girls in as much as they can before they go to camp...which I think is a little strange but whatever. So we are having a few mutual nights before we go to camp that are camp activity nights to certify them in some of the area's that they need done. So this past Tuesday (6/24) was my first CAMP activity that I was in charge of. So each year needs to pass off different certifications so I had to plan 4 different activities in one. So the things that we were going to pass off that night was 1-knots, 2-Signaling for HELP, 3-Emergency Shelters, and 4-Bed rolls. We had a great time, it turned out really well. We even had time after to play a little game so it was a successful night! Now we have 2 more camp activities before we go to camp the last week of July.

Happy Birthday Sadie!

2008-06-27T11:43:00.006-06:00

Sadie is FOUR today! Now all of my nieces and nephews are either 2 or 4. I have the greatest Nieces and Nephews. They are the cutest kids EVER! I love them all so much. All of my sister are such amazing mothers. They do so much for their wonderful kids. I can't wait to add some fun kids to the bunch...they are such fun cousins. It's so sweet to see how much they all love each other. Happy Birthday SADIE! We love you and miss you! Have so much fun at your TEA PARTY!

This picture is from the last time I saw Sadie, which was last OCTOBER in Ventura for my mom's birthday surprise! All of the grandkids got to go to nursery together and it was SO much FUN! But now Sadie is a BIG girl and goes to PRIMARY!!!!!

Here are some pictures of me and the older kids at my wedding...way back in 2006! I just love these pictures though. I treasure them...and actually they are going to be up on my wall (I hope to have my family wall of pictures up by September...right now there is a map of the Valley where I want my family pictures)

Hand Update

2008-06-20T22:55:00.007-06:00

So Craig is doing well. He doesn't have much pain. If he isn't actively moving his had there is no pain so he does not need any pain medication...not even Advil. As you will see he has a HUGE blister on his middle finger which is starting to leak. He has some other blisters but no as bad. He went to the doctor on Thursday but picking a doctor from a list is like Russian Roulette and we lost. The doctor barely even looked at his hand and didn't answer any of Craig's questions. He just kept on saying "let nature take it's course." Then Craig asked if the Doctor could look at his bad toe (it was stepped on a few times playing basketball and we are just waiting for the nail to fall off). So Craig wanted to know if he should do anything else and the doctor said he didn't like feet and referred Craig to a podiatrist. LAME! So we are taking good care of it...doing what the ER doctors told us to do and putting the ointment on his burn and keeping it wrapped.

Here is a picture...hope it doesn't gross anyone out. The first picture is from Friday, June 20: The second picture is Saturday afternoon-mind you he worked today so he was more active and the reason why it's shiny is because there is an ointment on it (his prescription) But the blisters are getting worse and he has more today than he has ever had. YUCK!
I know that you are all curious of how Craig is doing...thanks for everyones concern. We love you all!

BEST gift EVER!

2008-06-17T21:37:00.003-06:00

Craig's DAD (Kent) is an electronics GURU. He loves to get the latest and greatest electronic ANYTHING. If you have ever been to the Broadhead home you know they have the BEST "man cave" ever...fully equipped with comfortable chairs, projection screen, top of the line projector, Wii, Playstation 3, pool table, and of course yummy stacks with cold drinks. It is the ultimate hang out. So I guess there is an even better projector out these days than what he has so....of course he went and bought. So since he had an extra projector just LYING around he called Craig one day and said he was going to send us his "old" one (its not even a year old and he just got the bulb replaced so it's like new). So we are the luckiest kids in the world. THANKS KENT! We love it! So it's a little jerry rigged right now....we still need to get everything situated with the cords but here it is:This is how we watched the game last night...talk about PICTURE IN PICTURE. By the way that flat screen is Kiel's and it is a 38" wide screen...so it's nice sized....but look at the projection! MOVIE NIGHT ANYONE???

New TOY and an EMERGENCY!

2008-06-16T14:53:00.006-06:00

For pre-Father's Day (no I am not announcing anything) I got Craig a new BBQ. We have been wanting a new one b/c all we have is a teany little round one that sits on the floor. So I have been looking at them for a while and of course I wanted a nice Gas Grill and Craig has been saying that he wanted a CHARCOAL grill because it TASTES better. So, to be a nice wife I found a cool looking charcoal grill and purchased it for him. He was excited about it (I gave it to him on Saturday because we needed to put it together before our big family BBQ on Sunday...My parents came down and Tara, Jon, and Allie came over too).
(not the best pics but the one of him smiling and looking was way washed out and I couldn't fix it)
Anyway, Craig and I put it together Sunday morning before church (but after some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast) and it looked great and we couldn't wait for our BBQ. We went to church and then everyone came over to our house afterwards. We had some yummy snacks (chips and spinach dip, strawberries, apples and fruit dip {cream cheese and marshmallow whip}) Then we started up the barbecue. The boys were watching the Basketball game, Allie was watching a movie on the computer and Mom, Tara, and I were cooking and talking in the kitchen. (mom sorry I don't have any pictures of you...maybe Tara does)

So Craig went out to check on the meat and it needed some more coals so he put them on and not thinking that the old coals would light the new ones he put more lighter fluid on and re-lit it. The flames SHOT BACK AT HIM and it burnt his hand and singed off his arm hair on BOTH arms and one leg. No one else saw it but it is a miracle that it did not catch his clothes on fire because the flames flew back at him and he threw his arm back...I found the lighter on the other side of the patio. So Craig came in saying his had is burning...we put it under water and he said it was burning a lot. So I took him to the ER and since it was a burn they took him right in while I gave them all his information and signed the papers. So instead of barbecuing tri-tip Craig barbecued his hand.

Craig has 2nd degree burns on the top part of his right hand and the tip of his thumb. The ER doctors dressed his wounds and got us out of there after giving him a vicadin and waiting for a long time (4 different people came in and looked at his hand, why? I don't know). We got home at 10pm and our guests were still here...they of course finished the BBQ and ate. But it was nice that they waited up for us, especially with Mom and Dad having to drive home. Needless to say it was a father's day that we will never forget!

(pictures of everyone chillin while Craig and I were at the ER)
After everyone left I went to Walgreens to get the prescriptions filled and buy gauze to re-rap his wounds, and when I got home Brent and Kiel gave Craig a blessing, which was so nice. Then Craig went to bed and we set the alarm for when he could take his meds again so he wouldn't wake up in pain. He slept pretty well and then slept in until noon (I made him get up and have breakfast in the morning then back to bed). He is doing a lot better as of now. He is even off the pain meds right now (we will see how long that lasts). I just redressed his wounds and it is starting to blister but its looking good. Hopefully he will want to BBQ some day again...if not maybe I'll try and learn.

Breakfast and Old Faithful

2008-06-11T15:50:00.004-06:00

This morning after I got ready for the day I was making myself some Carnations Instant Breakfast, which is delicious and I have it for breakfast almost everyday. I was getting it ready in my favorite cup, which has a lid and a hole for a straw (see picture), well I had filled the cup pretty full and as I was placing the lid on (note: they are sometimes hard to get all of the way on) I pressed down firmly and a CHOCOLATE OLD FAITHFUL came spurting out of the straw hold and went straight into my EYE! (I was leaning over it a bit) It was so startaling and unexpected and I had to instantly turn around to the sink wash my face and then rinse my eye with water, because I'm sure chocolate milk is not good for the eye. ;o)

Anyway...it was a silly and retarded moment of the day. After cleaning up I realized how funny it really was and wished that I was on a reality show so it could have been caught on tape.

Patio FURNITURE

2008-06-04T19:46:00.002-06:00

In the Sunday May 18th paper my mother found the BEST deal on patio furniture from Cost Plus World Market. It was what they call their Worlds Best Deal. It was $199.99 for a four piece set. In the add it said limited quantity so I went first thing Monday morning, because who could pass up such a SCREAMING good DEAL. When I got there they had 2 boxes out on the floor and they were both on hold, they went to see if they had any more and they had ONE more left just for ME! I was so excited.
It took a while for us to get them put together because I went out of town the day I bought them and was gone for over a week but they are together now and I LOVE them. I have enjoyed them a lot so far: reading the paper, eating breakfast, family BBQ with the Bigler's (after going to the pool and the boys playing soccer and basketball), eating ice cream cake for Brent's birthday, and viewing unexpected fireworks.

It is so fun having the furniture outside, and the weather here is PERFECT for it. We would love for EVERYONE to come over and enjoy our new furniture with us!

Memorial Day

2008-06-02T20:34:00.006-06:00

I just did this page and wanted to add it.

For Memorial Day weekend we went up to Ventura. On Saturday after work all of the boys went to a soccer game in LA and I went out to dinner with an old friend (Brian Leseberg) from High School. On Sunday we went to church and then we went to Andrea's for lunch and then took a walk on the beach. Craig enjoyed playing in the water and we all enjoyed the view.

But what the boys did NOT enjoy was all of the TAR on their feet afterward. It was a LOT, which is unusual. But it was funny and an experience they've never had. They thought that I was lying to them when I told them you get it off with MAYONNAISE...it was pretty funny.
Later we played Luke's Washers and Craig and Devin made fresh lemonade for our BBQ. We had meat and FRESH halibut, delicious potatoes and much more. We had a relaxing evening and watch a movie.
On Monday (5/26) we decided to do some TOURISTY stuff since the boys had never seen some of the LA sights. We took the coastal route through Malibu to get to LA so we got to see the B-E-A-UTIFUL coastal line of California and we walked on the nice sandy beaches and drove by the Santa Monica Pier, the LA Temple, Rodeo Dr., and Hollywood and Vine. We enjoyed seeing the Hollywood SIGN. We then went to see the STARS at Mann's Grauman's Chinese Theater. After enjoying the craziness that is LA we went to UNIVERSAL city walk.
We ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and had fun times seeing the street performers and the fun stores. It was a GOOD weekend.

2 YEAR Anniversary!

2008-05-14T10:48:00.005-06:00

Tuesday May 13th was our 2 year anniversary!!!! Because we just started a new business we were not able to go away for our anniversary but that does NOT mean that we did not have a GREAT time. Since we didn't have all day to play we decided to do something local that we had never done before (well actually I did it when I was really little but I don't remember a thing). We drove to Palm Springs and took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up the mountain. It was so fun! It is the largest tram in the WORLD! They also just updated the trams so that the floor inside rotates so you get to see a new view each time. It's really neat. The ride is about 10 minutes long, and when we got to the top of the mountain we went to the look-out points to see the view of the valley. They say that on a clear day you can see MEXICO from there. It was a little foggy so we could only see the valley. We then took a little hike through the mountains. It was so beautiful and the smell of the trees was so refreshing. After our little hike/walk we headed back down the mountain to go out to lunch. We drove through downtown Palm Springs and stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Mariposa. It was delicious...really good chips and salsa. Luck for me there was a See's Candy right across the street so we went over there after lunch and bought a half pound of chocolate. YUMMY!

After our short adventure and lunch we had to get to work. After work we had a nice quiet evening at home. A simple dinner, and delicious Martinellies in our beautiful glasses from our wedding that our friends made for us. They say Bride and Groom on one side, both of our names on the other, and around the bottom it has our wedding date. The boys (who are living with us for the summer) were nice enough to give us the house for the evening...they went out and did who knows what. It was so nice to just have a relaxing evening. It was a WONDERFUL anniversary.

Blurb

2008-05-12T17:57:00.003-06:00

So I just got my Blurb book of my 2007 blog posts!!!! It is so cool, I love it! I am going to have one for every year...since blogs are the new age journals...I think it will be great for my kids so they can look back at all of our years.

If you don't know what Blurb is, it's a website that prints and binds books. They have a really easy program that you download for free and it can download your blog into a book format and you can edit it....it's really easy. You can print other types of books too...portfolios, books you've written, ANYTHING you want. It's so fun! go to www.blurb.com to check it out. Also they are coming out with a new product on the 15th...where they can burn pictures into the hard cover of the book...it looks really cool.

Anyway,

For my GRANNY

2008-05-09T19:09:00.004-06:00

Since my granny lives far away and does not get to hear me sing very often...and I feel weird singing over the phone I thought I would post a couple of videos of me singing. These are actually from a Christmas recital back in 2005....but it's all that I had on video.

Granny, I love you so much! I hope you enjoy these videos, I wish I could be there to sing to you in person.
143,
Cyndi

I also wrote a couple of poems about my Granny. She is such an inspiration to me. She is the most spiritual person I know and gives me strength.

Here is the first one:

Shining star
Light up my life
Shining star
Show me the light
Shining star
You’ve guided me
Shining star
I can now see
Shining star
Your light is truth
Shining star
I emulate you

Grandma Dear
You give so much
You’ve shown your love
Through your gentle touch

Words cannot describe
The knowledge you’ve shared
To each person you’ve met
Is now more prepared

To follow the path
We were meant to find
We can’t thank you enough
For enriching our mind

You’ve given your time
To all in need
And now we must
Follow your lead

To help others
And show them the way
We can teach many
How to pray

Our Heavenly Father
Has a plan for all
To lead us back
So we don’t fall

You’ve been his tool
To help so many others
Learn the fact that we are all
Sisters and brothers

I love you Grandma!!!!!!

NSD - National Scrapbook DAY

2008-05-04T16:14:00.005-06:00

So yesterday (5/3/08) was National Scrapbook Day...or as everyone calls it NSD (everyone in the digi-scrap community used 5 million acronyms it is quite annoying because I never know what they are). Anyway, what National Scrapbook Day means to the DIGI world is FREEBIES!!!!! and SALES!!!! So, I was downloading scrapbook stuff ALL day yesterday. It was fun....and I even bought a few things for some screamin' good deals!

Here are A FEW of the fun things that I got FOR FREE:

And here is what I bought:

It was fun...yet time consuming...but I was still able to download all of these items, get all of my work down, clean the entire house (except the bathrooms because that is Craig's job), and go to 2 movies at night. We saw Made of Honor and most of Iron Man. We had a nice evening; and I had a good day.

BEST landlords EVER!!!

2008-04-30T14:36:00.002-06:00

So we have the most AMAZING landlords EVER!!!! In our house there is a long hallway as you enter and there are 2 niches for pictures. I was really excited about the niches because I love picture niches....I think they are fun and beautiful. So I have been trying to figure out what to put there. Then the other day our Landlord was over working on something and he said that he paints and that he had a couple of LARGE paintings that he had done recently that would fit perfectly in those niches and that if I liked them I could have them! So, of course I said YES!!!! And he is so humble and nice and kept on saying "but if you don't like them that is fine...its up to you" and thinks like that. So he told me that he was going to have them matted and framed and then he would bring them over for us to look at them. So this morning (4/30/08) he brought them by and they are GORGEOUS! They are water color paintings of the local area mountains. He is so sweet he even hung them for us! HE is SO NICE it is crazy. By FAR the BEST landlord anyone could ever imagine!

Here are the 2 paintings....and what they look like in their niches.

CRAZY move

2008-04-26T18:08:00.006-06:00

So we have been planning to move to the Palm Springs area since August 2007 and have been making plans for our business since then. Before we actually moved out here we did a lot of research on the area to figure out where we wanted to live and everything else you could think of. We decided that we wanted to rent out a house so that we could have our salesmen live with us to save a little money on rent. Craig and I started to look for homes to rent in EARLY February, with plans to move into a home on April 12, 2008. We looked at A LOT of homes! Some that we found on our own through CraigsList.com and the newspaper, while others we found through a few different Real Estate agents. We actually found some that we really like and wanted to get; and others that could have worked but not the prettiest.

When it got to be a month until we were needing to move, we started to put in offers on homes, and for "SOME REASON" things just were NOT working out. It was either the Landlord was being weird and changing their minds about wanting to rent out there home, or not returning phone calls, or they just leased it to someone else. It was so FRUSTRATING! Time after time things just did not work, and the day to move just got closer and closer. So we just had to RELY on the Lord and PRAY that everything would work out. We just pressed on with school, finals, business plans, and packing up our apartment. We planned to drive to California the day after graduation, stay at my sister Tara's house that night, and move into our house the next morning (Saturday).

Well, Graduation day came...we had 90% of the apartment loaded into the moving truck (with the help of both of our parents, Aunt Donna, Julie, Brent, and Aunt Linda) and still no home locked down. So we just pressed on, kept looking, and praying some more. Friday morning...still no home, but we drove to Tara's house. Saturday morning, we had a few homes to look at with a Realtor, the homes were nice but there we some things standing in our way on every home that we REALLY wanted. After looking at those homes we went to look at a home that we were approved on (credit check) but we had never seen it so we wanted to look at it before we signed a lease agreement. Well, we went to look at it and it was not up to my standards...and I would not have been comfortable there AT ALL. So we told the landlord that we did not want it and he got all PISSY at us...it was just a frustrating day. Needless to say all Saturday we were looking at houses.

So there was no luck on homes on Saturday. So we were hoping at this point that we could move in somewhere on Sunday, because my best friend Bianca and her husband Ethan came down from Ventura to help us move in, my parents were here to help too, and Craig's 2 friends (Kiel and Devon) who are our salesmen got into town too! So we had this huge GROUP of people here to help us move into a home that WE DID NOT HAVE! Sunday we went out and got breakfast and picked up a newspaper, and while Craig and I (and the boys) were out looking at homes with another Realtor my Mom was nice enough to look in the newspaper and call some homes from there. She called a "really nice" lady named Karen, who said she would be busy for the next 3 HOURS but she would give us a call and she had 3 homes to show us that afternoon. So, we played phone-tag with this lady for a little bit but then we spoke and she was so nice and we planned a time to meet up, but before we got off the phone she said tell me a little about yourself. So, I told her that it's just me and my husband, no pets, no smoking, no drinking, etc. Then she asked "Are you MORMON?" So I said "yes" and she replied, "me too!" So we were then really excited to meet her and see these houses. She wanted to show us the BEST one first...so we met her there. It was BRAND NEW and EVERYTHING that we wanted! The only "downer" was that we could not move in until Tuesday morning. So, Karen showed us the other two homes and Craig made a joke that the first home was Celestial, the second was Terrestrial, and the third was Telestial. And Karen LOVED that joke!! So we decided that we wanted the CELESTIAL house. It was EVERYTHING that we had wanted...and more. We thought that we were going to have to settle for and OK home...But the LORD provided us with the BEST house because we were ever enduring, and patient, and just had to wait a few days longer. The reason why we could not move in until Tuesday is because ESCROW didn't close until Tuesday April 15!

We were also blessed with AMAZING landlords! They are an older couple from Germany that live here in Palm Desert for most of the year, and Canada in the summer. They are so kind. On Tuesday (the day we moved in) as we pulled up with our moving truck and they opened the home up for us they asked us what time we wanted lunch? And they brought us Pizzas and Soda as we were moving in! How sweet is that?!?!?!?!

Also, on our travels from SLC to Palm Desert we stopped in Las Vegas to visit Tricia and her boys for lunch. Tricia was really sick so we just stayed and talked for a short time. We had fun with Shane and Trevor...they enjoyed an apple snack in the backyard with Gramma Stewie.
Craig and Dad took Shane and Trevor outside to see the moving truck...they were intrigued by it. Shane kept on asking "WHY?" questions. As Dad told him that Craig and I had all of our stuff in there...he asked WHY? and on and on....everything was WHY? I guess he hit that stage in life. The funniest why question was he saw the blue exercise ball and he asked "why is there a ball in there?" Cute boy!
Shane got to look in and see ALL of our stuff!
Over the weekend when we were looking for homes in the valley Bianca and Ethan were helping us look on Saturday and in the evening we went to dinner at Islands. We had a good time! It was so good to see Bianca. I hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving...so it had been a LONG time.

New HOME

2008-04-21T21:24:00.004-06:00

So I have a BIG LONG moving story that I will post later but I know people are DYING to see pictures of our home. So here they are.

Graduation

2008-04-21T19:17:00.009-06:00

The night before Graduation mom was checking her email and she gets LDS new articles and there was one about LDS Business College's Graduation. It was talking about how Elder L. Tom Perry was going to be the key note speaker and some facts about the graduating class and then it listed the two student speakers which included ME! So we had to print the story and read it to everyone. I was so excited to be in CHURCH news.
Craig and I were blessed to have both of our parents, my Aunt Linda Bradbury, Craig's Aunt Donna, and Craig's brother Brent and Sister Julie-along with daughter Kaylee, come out to our graduation. They all traveled LONG distances to share this special occasion with us. We truly appreciate there love and support!

Here are some pictures of some of my designer friends that my mom took:
(from left to right-Katie, Steve, and Kathy)
(Keassa, Laura, Lindsey, and Jacque)
President Woodhouse gave some fun statistics about the graduation class of 2008. My favorite is that the youngest graduate was 18yrs old (my friend Jamie-my old roommate) and the oldest 61 yrs old (My DEAR DEAR friend-Kathy) He also did a little improve statistics. He asked people to stand if they were foreign students, or from other states other than Utah, or if they met there spouse/fiance at LDSBC, and other fun facts. Then when he was announcing the program he told a little bit about the two student speakers. Ironically the other student speaker was named Cynthia too. She was from Mexico. Pres. Woodhouse said that after they picked both of us they wanted to know how many Cynthia's were graduating and we were 100% of the Graduating Cynthia's...it was funny.

This was taken during the stand up stats. The school was so nice in making room for Craig to sit on the stand with me. It was so nice to be able to sit together and enjoy the graduation ceremonies together.
Elder Perry was our key note speaker and he did an amazing job. It was so nice to get to meet him.

Here I am giving my talk. It was so fun to be the voice of my fellow students. My parents said that Elder Perry was smiling all through my speech...you can see it in this picture. My talk went really well...everyone loved it. I had a little shout out to my design girls in it and they all "whooted" for me...and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I got a lot of wonderful compliments afterward.

Craig and I got to go and get our diplomas at the same time. They called my name first, I took my little picture and then they said "and husband Craig Broadhead" and he got his picture, but then Elder Perry said, "Hey get her back here so she can get a picture with her husband." So they called me back and Elder Perry stepped into the picture with us!!! We were the only people that he stepped into the picture with. How cool is that. We were also the only married couple graduating together! The sad news is that I just got the proofs from the "professional" photographer...and they cut Elder Perry out of the picture! I am so MAD...what kind of church photographer cuts an apostle out of a picture! Luckily Sharon got this picture...it's a little blurry...but better than nothing.
Here are the BROADHEAD KIDS!
Here is a picture of the Interior Design CLASS of 2008! There are 27 girls and 1 boy. The head of our department is Miles Hunsaker...he is the one in the bottom right corner. We are a little family. We all are so close and really helped each other get through this CRAZY program. Lots of fun memories.

Here are pictures with some of our close friend Josh and Melody. They are so much fun. Josh had one more year at LDSBC...he is going to be the class president next year too.Here is Craig and I with my parents in front of the Assembly Hall where our graduation was held.

Me and Lindsey...we worked at Noble House together and we became REALLY close friends.Here is my friend Katie. She is such a sweet girl...I actually worked with her at Lisman Richardson.
At our wedding Craig and I have the BEST picture of us clicking our heals...so we tried to do it again...not quite as good but it is the fun memories.
It was so special to graduate from a church school and have commensement on Temple Square! There was a special spirit there that day...So much joy and excitement to be together with friends and family on this special occasion.
The BEAUTIFUL Assembly Hall
Here is Heather...she was my best friend in the Design Program...the first year we were INSEPARABLE! I love her. She is such a wonderful friend and an inspiration.
Laura and Kathy are two of the sweetest girls. I love them both!
After Commencement they had a reception at the school for graduates and their friend and family. It was nice to just relax and have fun times. My mom even spoke to some parents that traveled all the way from Mongolia. They didn't speak English and were non-members but they had a wonderful conversation. Their daughter who graduated translated for my mom.
For our graduation CELEBRATION dinner we all went to LEATHERBY'S! It was perfect...some got food, and/or ice cream. It was DELICIOUS and the perfect setting for a large group...we were basically the only people there and we could all hear each other and have fun times.
Here is my Aunt Linda who drove out ...she is so wonderful! I love HER!My mom is too freakin' cute...she brought up decorations for us...it was so funny to see and empty apartment with deco's on the wall. We had a good time.

FAMILY outing...to IKEA

2008-04-17T18:42:00.004-06:00

Before we left Utah (and apartment living) we needed to take a "quick" stop at IKEA! They have wonderful furniture and accessories for SUPER good deals. Since we were graduating from COLLEGE our parents were so kind in giving us money to buy furniture! So, on Wednesday April 9, 2008 Craig and I, my parents, Craig's parents, and Julie, Kaylee, and Aunt Donna all took a TRIP to Ikea. It was so fun walking around the store all together. Craig, my parents and I actally went a few day prior to pick out most everything so that when we went again it was just a matter of grabbing it all...or so we thought! We all had so much fun! Kaylee enjoyed all of the fun stuff for kids.
It was just kind of funny to have this HUGE family group all shopping together. We even stopped a worker to take our picture...he probably thought we were CRAZY! Well we kind of are. :o) My parents bought us a beautiful desk and filing cabinet. Craig's parents got us a kitchen table and super cute chairs, along with a couple of end tables. Then Craig and I purchased beds for our salesmen and some other miscellaneous stuff.
Here are the MEN with all of our stuff!!! We bought a lot! To say the least!

Here are pictures of our kitchen table and chairs...that is all I could find actual pictures of...I will probably have pictures of our "office" soon so you can see the desk.

Thanks PARENTS for all your love and support and for helping us get such BEAUTIFUL furniture! We love you ALL so much!

Portfolio Event

2008-04-14T20:54:00.005-06:00

On Thursday, April 3, 2008 I was a part of the LDS Business College's Interior Design Departments Portfolio Event. All of the graduating Interior Design students are required to make a portfolio and participate in the Portfolio Event. They had professionals from the Interior Design Industry come out and judge our portfolios and the first year students also came in and judge them too. So the actual event there were awards given out and we all had our friends and family come and see what we have been working on for so long. I took a picture of everyone setting up...it was so interesting to see people bringing in such extravagant pieces. My parents flew in that day to make it to this event to support me. My display focused on a project that I worked REALLY hard on...it was my DISNEY Imagineers project. I also tried to show that I like green design. Each of my projects have at least 1 green product included in it. I did it that way because there are many people who want to go green but can not afford to buy all green products. Even a little green can help. (side note: if you are shopping for office supplies there are a lot of products out that are made out of "post consumer" products or recycled products so they are GREEN)

Here is a picture of all of the graduation Design students. There are a couple missing (cut out of the picture a little) but it was hard to get everyone in. It was such a fun event...it was a room full of CREATIVITY! Everyone truely showed THEIR style...it was great.

Just so you can see some of the displays that other girls came up with...here are a few pictures:

All in all it was a really great event...it was so nice to meet everyones friends and family. All of us design girls are with eachother 24/7 almost so it was nice to meet their families.

I got a PERM!

2008-04-03T11:43:00.002-06:00

So I have thought about getting a SUBTLE perm for a long time....and I finally decided to just do it! I was SUPER nervous because I have never had a perm in my LIFE. So it was so nerve-racking of...how do I take care of it, how is it going to look, will it even work, etc. I talked to some of my friends and got so good advice. Then when I went in for my appointment on Wed. April 2 @ noon, I asked a MILLION questions before we started to make sure that it would turn out the way I wanted. So then we got started! When it came to the point of the PERM solution, OH WOW that stuff STINKS. What is funny though is that that smell is what I call "stinky salon" smell...because you know how you go into some salons and they just reek. I never knew what that smell was until they put it on my HAIR! So here is a picture of me getting my FIRST ever PERM. Don't I look hot with all the curlers and a trash bag on my head?

So after she took them out and I saw my hair curly and wet I was SUPER scared, because it's not that cute all wet. But as it started to dry I liked it more and more. It still trips me out that I can get my hair wet and when it dries it will be CURLY again?!?!?!?! I've been so nervous pulling at it or touching it thinking I'm going to flatten it out and pull the curls out. It's definitely going to take a while to get use to. But I am excited for the change....it's going to be FUN!
So here are the results...It is just a really loose perm...to give me body and some fun CHARACTER!

Headshots

2008-03-28T21:53:00.004-06:00

I have wanted updated headshots so I can audition for plays and not use old pictures of me for a long time. (I use to just use my Senior pictures but it's been too many years) Anyway...I was looking on CraigsList.com one day and found a photographer that wanted to get more headshots for his portfolio and so he was doing them for FREE! So I contacted him and we met up at the old LDSBC Mansion to take the photos (and we walked over to some other buildings including the First Presbyterian Church etc.) It was really fun...I felt like a model. But then it took forever for me to get the CD...he could never come bring it to me and then he never mailed it so I finally just picked it up from him today. So here they are...I was excited that a lot of them turned out really well.

Anyone had enough of ME? Sorry I posted so many...I was having a hard time choosing and I wanted to share all the fun ones. If you want to vote which one I should use as my actually headshot....leave a number in your comment just number from the top down. Thanks!

Temple Night

2008-03-26T23:28:00.003-06:00

Tonight Craig and I went with our friends Matt and Sadie to the Bountiful Temple. Of course we are in the Salt Lake Temple district, since we live 5 blocks away, but Craig and I had never been to the Bountiful temple before and we wanted to see some other temples before we leave UTAH. It was a really nice session...I really felt the Spirit strongly...I love the Temple. I'm so thankful for Temples, they are so wonderful.
After the temple we headed over to Nelsen's Frozen Custard for some CONCRETE'S. Matt had never had frozen custard before, so we had to go...plus it is Craig's FAVORITE! He use to have it all the time on his mission. It is really big in St. Louis...frozen custard stores EVERYWHERE!
We are hoping that we might be able to go to another temple before we leave...possibly while our family is here for graduation...we'll see.

Good bye GLADYS

2008-03-25T18:32:00.004-06:00

On March 12, 2008 we said good bye to Gladys. For those of you who don't know Gladys was my car...she is a 1999 Ford Escort. She was "basically" my first car (technically I bought another car before but it was kind of a scam so we sold it back to him after a few weeks). Her name came from a funny experience at the movies. Bianca and I went to see The Notebook at the theaters and it was the beginning of the movie where it is quiet beautiful music and as it is starting there are 2 old ladies walking down the hall in the theater and they are talking really LOUDLY saying "did you see the Spiderman movie?" etc. and going off about other movies, then...they get into the seating area and they started walking in opposite directions...then one starts saying in s yell trying to be a whisper, "Gladys, where are you? Gladys, my eyes haven't adjusted yet." It was HILARIOUS! Bianca ended up helping them find each other. So, that is the story of how she got her name. What makes me laugh is that all my close friends and family have always called my car Gladys.

So the reason why we sold her is because Craig needs a work truck for our business and there is no need for us to have 3 cars...therefore we needed to say good bye to Gladys. The good news is that we found her a really good Mormon family! What is funny is that since my car had a name it was kind of sad to sell her.

While we were sighing over the pink slip Craig told them about the car's name so...who knows they may keep her name. She was a really great car and she will be missed!

SOON TO BE COLLEGE GRADS!

2008-03-11T20:44:00.007-06:00

Today as I was sitting at home doing homework and my phone rang with an unknown number. It ended up being a Faculty member from my school (LDS Business College). He said that I had been selected to be ONE of the TWO student speakers at our Commencement Ceremony! He of course then asked if I wanted to do it...and I said YES!!!! How could I pass up such a great opportunity!?!
The CRAZIEST part of all of this is that I did not apply to speak or try-out or anything...THEY sought me out and PICKED me!!!
It is just a short 4 minute talk but I'm so EXCITED! They said that I should reflect on my time at LDSBC and that I am to be the "voice" of all of the students. (I'll post my talk when I'm done). Also, the "guest speaker" at our Graduation is Elder L. Tom Perry!!!! How cool is that...I get to meet him and sit on the stage with him! Our graduation is going to be held at the Assembly Hall at Temple Square...I get to speak in a building built by the PIONEERS. We had our Stake Conference there and I thought that that was cool just being in there but now I get to speak from the pulpit! I am really excited!

Just had to share my good news...Craig and I are both excited to graduate together and then start our life in California!

ABC Tag

2008-03-01T22:26:00.001-07:00

A- Attached or single: Attached FOREVER

B- Best friend: Craig and Bianca

C- Cake or Pie: Cake

D- Day of Choice: Right now it would be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because I get to spend the entire day with CRAIG

E- Essential Item: My Blackberry Curve…Craig talked me into getting it and I didn’t think that I would use all of the extra features on it very much but I do and I LOVE it.

F- Favorite Color: This is a hard one…being a designer I have an appreciation for all colors but right now I love GREY

G- Gummie Worms or Bears: Ehh…doesn’t really matter. Chocolate covered gummy bears are pretty good though

H- Hometown: Ventura, CA

I- Indulgence{s}: Anything Chocolate…tonight it is no-bake cookies (I just made them). Also, 24 (the TV show…we have been watching the seasons on DVD)

J- January or July: July because it is WARM!

K- Kids: Not yet

L- Life is incomplete without: My “Mr.” (Craig)

M- Marriage Date: May 13^th, 2006

N- Number of siblings: 3 Older Sisters

O- Oranges or Apples: I like both but I love a good ORANGE

P- Phobias or Fears: Lately one of my big fears has been STAIRS…I’m always afraid that I’m going to fall down them or trip on the way up…especially when it is snowy and they are icy…not fun!

Q- Question to Ask God: I can’t think of anything right now…I know I have thought of things in the past. Craig and I were talking today wondering why there isn’t thunder and lightning when it snows?

R- Reason to smile: I’m graduating in 39 days

S- Season: Any season that is warm…I’m so done with the COLD

T- Tag Three: Tara, Tricia, Lanae

V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of animal: I eat MEAT

W- Worst habit: Complaining…I’m trying to QUIT!

X- X-ray or Ultrasound: no preference

Y- Your favorite food: Oh there are so many: Tortellini, asparagus, artichokes, chocolate malted crunch (ice cream), JUICE, Carnations instant breakfast, etc.

Z- Zimbabwe or New Zealand: New Zealand

Fun in the SUN!

2008-02-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

For Presidents Day weekend Craig and I went to Palm Springs to do some business stuff, look for a house, and have some FUN times! We left Wednesday night after my class...unfortunately it was snowing and we did not realize when we left that it would be snowing through the entire state of Utah until St. George. It was really bad but we did make it through the storm safely, it just added a few hours to our trip. Thursday we looked at a houses with an agent in Rancho Mirage, which is a really ritzy area. He didn't have time to show us the other homes he found b/c it was Valentines day so he gave us the addresses and we drove by them to see which ones we would like to walk through on Friday. Friday morning we looked at those other homes then Craig went to Temecula to sell Pest Control (he is just doing it for some extra money and so he can be in Palm Springs often and wrap things up with our business). That evening my mom came in town to be with us too.

Also on Friday Craig had to interview a technician so Tara and I dropped him off and drove around the neighborhood and as we were driving around we came across this house sized chicken...it cracked us up. We turned around a few times and took a picture. Here it is...it busts me up...why would you need a huge chicken in your backyard?Saturday morning Craig had to go to Temecula again (he got 2 sales that day), Tara, Allie, my Mom, and I went to a street fair that they have every weekend at the College of the Deserts. It was so fun! We all really enjoyed it...it was beautiful weather and just fun. I got a couple of T-Shirts for Craig for his birthday. We enjoyed some kettle corn and bought some fresh strawberries, artichokes, and asparagus.

Sunday we went to Sacrament and then Craig, Mom and I went and looked at some more homes and then when we got home....there was a mini surprise party for Craig (b/c it's his birthday this Friday). The day before my mom, Tara and I had planned it and bought a lasagna, etc. for him...it's his favorite. We had the Beatles Birthday Song playing as we walked in the door and Tara had put up some deco's and had the food cooking. It was fun he had no clue and was shocked. We had a delicious meal and then played some games. We played a compatibility game that was fun.
Monday we decided to go to the Joshua Tree National Park and do some GeoCaching. We actually didn't go into the Park b/c it was $15 per car so we just drove around right before the park. It was BEAUTIFUL! Here are some beauty shots of the desert wild flowers!

Here is Craig and I...we had so much fun...we can't wait to move there!!!!
Here is the whole bunch of us...there was a rock and I have a mini-tripod so I set it up and it worked perfectly on the first try!
There were these cool plants that remind me of sea weed. Can you believe that I just snapped this out the window while we were driving...I love it (maybe you don't but I think its cool)
OK so here is our blond moment funny story. Jon printed a bunch of Geo Caches for us to do while we were out, so we were going to do a few. Anyway we picked one called "water, water everywhere" and it said that it was easy terrain so we did it...we used our new TomTom GPS to do the cache...the thing we didn't think about was that the TomTom automatically picks the shortest route so it took us on some dirt roads...and we are driving forever and starting to get nervous about it but not wanting to turn back b/c we had driven so far. We eventually came upon a normal road at a freeway exit. We were very happy. We ended up finishing the Cashe and realizing that it wasn't far off of the freeway exit but since we were in the park it took us through dirt roads b/c it was the most direct route. It was crazy but we finally found it and boy was it an adventure.

This picture was taken off of one of the dirt roads...there were these chairs and fire pit...it cracked us up and Allie said as we drove by "my couch"...it was funny we had to stop and take a picture.
We FOUND the Cache!!!! Hooray!
The reason why it was called "water, water everywhere" is because this thing that we are standing on had water being pumped into the city...we think it's water from the Colorado River. It smelled yummy! But it was kind of SCARY....it was freaking me out that Craig and Jon were standing on top of it b/c the water rushes really FAST and if it broke you would definitely die...SCARY! We were looking through the cracks to see how close the water was to us...it was pretty close. It was interesting.

First Ticket

2008-02-21T16:01:00.004-07:00

Last night (2/20/08) after a long day at school and not much sleep the night before, having just come home from California, I picked Craig up after class to run some erronds and we needed to go to the bank. I usually go to one down town but Craig goes to one on North Temple but far west. So as I was coming up on North Temple Craig said "right, right, turn right" so I did...I was already tired and frustrated from the day and then that bugged me too b/c I think the one downtown is closer and Craig thinks the other one is closer. So, I was mad and started to speed...there is a bridge and on the other side of the bridge there was a cop and it was a down hill bridge so of course it got even faster. Anyway...long story short I got a speeding ticket and it was my first ticket EVER! I thought that he might let me go b/c I don't have a record...but no luck. But he did lower what I was actually going over the speed limit. It's so annoying that they don't write the ticket amount on the ticket you never know how much it is. I still need to call the number so we'll see how much it is.
Thats my sad story...I now have a DRIVING RECORD!

Designer Friends

2008-01-31T18:50:00.002-07:00

Here is the before picture...MMMMMM .... Delicious! We also had a bunch of French Fries before these.
On Wednesday Jan. 30th I hung out with my "Designer" girlfriends (other Interior Design Students) all day. In the morning we were all in the computer-lab working on an AutoCAD project that was due that night...we were "using our time wisely" until we had to go to our "Field Trip" class at noon (we have a class that we just go on field trips to different design firms or showrooms, etc.) Anyway there are six of us girls who always carpool together (we like to call it the party wagon) but before we went to our field trip we found out that one of the girls from the "party wagon" just broke up with her boyfriend...SO, we decided that after our field trip we would all go to Leatherby's (a delicious ice cream creamery place that has the biggest ice cream Sundays ever!). So after the field trip we go over there and we had the BEST time ever! Since it was total girl time and getting over a break up time we got a bunch of French fries first...then a HUGE banana split and a peanut butter and chocolate Sunday too!!!!! we went to town on that Ice Cream. We all had so much fun talking and hanging out. It's really fun hanging out with design girls too because you can talk about what you're going through with school and projects and they know what you are talking about. It was just so much fun to step away from school for a little bit and just be with the girls!
Here are my friends in the picture above (from left to right) Laura, Cyndi, Melody, Kessa, Jacqueline, and Lindsey (standing up)
Yumm-o! We ate a lot....and it was delicious!

But of course after that we went back to the computer lab to finish up our project and we were there until class and all through class....basically we live at the school, but at least I have fun friends to hang out with while I'm doing these crazy projects.

Ok...So I am retarded and my friend who had these pictures said she was going to post them on her FaceBook account and so I have checked it almost everyday looking for these pictures and then yesterday she told me that they have been posted for a long time I just didn't know how to find them. So Finally I found them!

Addiction!

2008-01-23T15:05:00.001-07:00

68%

Digi-Scrapping

2008-01-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

This page I did for a challenge on the Lily Pad. The challenge was to create a page that focused on the 7 favorite moments or memories of 2007 while using Jacque's Frames and bookplates and her Chunky Alphabet Soup Alpha. This is what I did:This is just a page that I did for the Creative Team that I am on with the Frostie Fairies Kit
Here is my New Years page for 2008! Using Lets Celebrate kit.
Just thought I'd Share what I've been doing. But now we are back in school. It's our last semester here!!!! I think it will be a good semester...lots of work but it's the END! We will keep you posted on how it's going later. Have a Fun Day!

Happy B-Day Tara!

2008-01-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Tara! We hope you have fun today. We love you so much. You are a great sister, friend, and mother. We miss you and can't wait to see you again. Have fun times!!!

Christmas FUN!

2007-12-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Like most married couples we switch between whose parents house we go to each holiday. So this year was the Broadhead's year for Christmas. So on Wednesday night after Craig got home from Palm Springs (on business) we drove out to Walla Walla. This year Craig's entire family came out for Christmas! on Christmas Eve Craig and I made some peanut brittle together. Here is a page that I did.

We had fun on Christmas eve we played a little gift exchange game where you draw numbers and number one picks a gift and number two can either take number one's gift of pick a new one, etc. It was fun, there was lots of stealing, then we played catch phrase. This trip has been filled with video games. Even the little kids have been playing some. The following picture is me with all the grand kids. I was helping one play the Wii and then another came up to sit with us and then another came up with a book...it was fun!
Christmas we got a lot of fun gifts some of the big ones include this GPS unit from Craig's parents:
Guitar Heroes to Craig from ME:
Donald Trump Game from ME
Craig gave me a fire safe box, which I have wanted for a long time...I was excited! We also got some money to buy new clothes and a golf bag from my mom. We got lots of other WONDERFUL gifts but I won't bore you all by listing everything.
One night Craig, David, and Josh had an ice cream eating contest...the goal: to eat half a gallon of Ice Cream in less than 1/2 and hour. And they all FINISHED!! It was funny and gross all at the same time.
Needless to say they did not feel good afterward. Craig's time: 19 min. (chocolate mudslide) Davids time: 22.5 min. (cookies and cream) Josh's time: 17.5min (Vanilla)
We have been playing video games non-stop here. Guitar heroes of course has been the number one choice.
The day after Christmas we all went to Tri-Cities and went to Chuck e Cheeses and then went to the mall, Target, and Costco to return some gifts and what not

Since we were all together for the first time since Craig and I have been married we had to get a family picture. Rich brought some of his photo equipment so we had our own little photo studio with 2 umbrella flashes, and a remote control for the camera.
The Texas families are going back tomorrow so the house will be a lot calmer with out the grandkids but we will definitely miss them all. Craig and I are staying through new years.

2007-12-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

Where did you meet your husband?

Craig came to Ventura to sell Pest Control for the summer in 2005 and we meet in the Singles Ward. The first Sunday that him and the other salesman came to church they all walked in and sat on the side pews (our ward was so small that it was kind of required to sit in the center) when they walked in of course all of the girls were excited about the “fresh meat” anyway, they sat on the side and then Brother Hunter got up and told them to come sit in the center and directed them to the row right in front of me. I immediately thought Craig was super cute!

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?

I don’t know probably just the normal introduction stuff “what’s your name?” or “My name is Cyndi.” Or something like that but one of the first conversations we had was with him and me and one of my girl friends and Craig said “So do you girls want to give me your numbers?” and I said, “Oh no, you get my number!” So he did and called me that day and that was the start of it all!

3. Where was your first date?

Well, Craig wanted to take me to Chuck E. Cheeses but when we got there they were open but not letting anymore people in so he said what is your favorite restaurant so I said, “The Aloha” (which is a nice steakhouse by the pier in Ventura and it is a little pricey!) But Craig was super sweet and took me there. Then we took a walk on the pier afterwards but that is it b/c I started to not feel good :o(

4. Where was your first kiss?

Our first kiss was at a park in Salt Lake City called Pioneer Park. We had been dating long distance (Craig was at BYU Idaho and I was still at Ventura College) and for General Conference we both met in Salt Lake. I was going to check out LDS Business College and go to conference and Craig came down to meet me, and he invited me to his mission reunion. So we went to his reunion on Friday night and then afterward we went to the Gateway mall and played some video games at an arcade there. After that we were going to meet up with some of Craig’s friends and so we just drove done the street and found Pioneer Park. So we were waiting there for his friends, swinging and playin’ and then we had our first kiss there on the swings. It was the Best first kiss ever! So tender!

5.This Picture is from Craig's mission reunion, the night we had our first kiss!

Di Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

Well this is a little tricky. We met at the beginning of the summer 2005 and imidately started dating for a few weeks and then people started saying “You guys are perfect for each other, you are going to get married!” and I was all scared b/c I had dated this other guy off and on for a long time and we never officially ended things so I was super confused when people started to say things like that b/c it was super fast and a crazy whirlwind (for me at the time). So I told Craig I just wanted to be friends, and I had to go and figure things out. Anyway I FINALLY ended the madness with the other guy and started to hang out with Craig more…we started dating again at the end of the summer, but then it was time for Craig to go back to school. The second I said good bye to Craig I knew he was the one. We dated long distance for one semester (during which we had our first kiss in October and got engaged in November). In January of 2006 we both moved to Salt Lake City to go to LDS Business College and got married afther the semester was over on May 13^th 2006. So yes we had a long engagement and courtship! But the engagement was long b/c we had a hard time picking a date b/c two of my sisters were pregnant and Craig’s sister and sister-in-law we both pregnant too! So it was tricky!

6. Where did you get engaged?

The weekend before Thanksgiving I went out to Walla Walla to meet Craig’s parents and on Monday Nov. 21, 2005 he took me to a park and we fed the birds for a little while and then we were walking around and there is a gazebo in the center of the park and he said, “Do you want to go over to the gazebo?” so of course I said yes and we started walking over there and he was telling me how much he loved me and all kinds of sweet things and as we got closer to the gazebo there was a staircase to go up into it and he was walking so that I was kind of close to it and retarted me ruined the moment and said “I don’t want to go under the stairs.” Dumb! As I got on the other side of the stairs there was a huge poster up on the side of the gazebo that said “Cynthia Will You Marry Me?” I about fell down (I knew he was going to propose to me that weekend but I don’t think you’re ever prepared for that moment) So he had to kind of carry me up the stairs into the gazebo then he got down on one knee and asked me “will you marry me?” of course I said yes! What is ironic about the story is that the park was called Pioneer Park just like the park in SLC where we had our first kiss!

7. Where did you get married?

Well, I always thought that I would get married in the LA Temple but it was closed at the time for a 6month long remodel. So we had to choose between San Diego, Newport Beach, and Redlands. So, we choose Redlands, CA Temple. It is a beautiful temple, I’m so glad we got married there. Another bit of irony is that when I went to the open house for the Redlands Temple I said “I can get married here so we (all of my sisters and I) can have our own temple.” (b/c all of my sisters go married in different temples so they always said that I needed my own temple.)

8. How did your reception go?

The reception was PERFECT! We had it at city hall in Ventura. The entry way is large and all marble! And there is a huge marble staircase and we had a harpist at the top of the stairs playing. Everything was beautiful! I wouldn’t change a thing!

9. The Honeymoon!

Our first night we stayed in Ventura at a cute hotel down town called the Bella Ma’Gore then the next day we flew up to San Francisco! It was super fun! Perfect honeymoon location b/c there are things to see but it’s not a tragedy if you don’t get out. After being there for I think 6 days we flew up to Portland, Organ where we meet up with my parents and stayed there for a day and then we all drove to Walla Walla for our Open House.

Winter Time

2007-12-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

So it is DEFINITELY winter here! This morning (12/1) we woke up and it was snowing outside (and clearly had been snowing for a long time before we woke up). This is what it looked like out our window at 1030 a.m. and it was still snowing when I took this picture and snowed for a couple hours afterward.
look this is the snow on Gladys...5.5" Crazy!!!!
Our poor Vibe...covered in snow
So I have been busy like alway!!!! It is the end of the semester so it has been a whole lot of Homework, regular work, and scrapbooking...well...and we had a long Thanksgiving vacation too. Anyway I have to scrapbook because I'm on a Design Team so it is kind of like a job. So, here are some of pages that I've done lately...Some of them have my sisters kids because the kits are at times very kid oriented and as you all know I do not have any kids yet but I am very thankful for my nieces and nephews!!! They are the CUTEST!

Ventura Reunion!!!

2007-11-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

So Thursday night (11/15) Bianca and Ethan flew up to Utah to go to Celeste's (their cousin's) wedding. So Craig and I picked them up from the airport and we drove straight over the the MAYAN (I know I was just there a few weeks ago...but it's fun) where we met up with a BUNCH of our friends from Ventura that our currently living in Utah. I was like a little reunion! We all had a good time catching up on each others lives and reminiscing of old times! After dinner Bianca and Ethan and Michelle came over to our house to spend the night...SLEEPOVER!!! It was so fun! Bianca, Michelle and I have been close friends for a long time and one summer we were being silly and called ourselves the "yam yams" like the "ya ya sister hood" (its a movie just in case you have no idea what that is) So anyway it was really fun to be all together again (we haven't all hung out in a long long time with living in different places and getting married and boyfriends, etc.) So we all had fun jibber jabbin' at my house!

Here is a picture of everyone at the Mayan. From left to right: Craig, Cyndi, Ashley, Aaron, Bianca, Ethan, Jordan, Michelle, Steve, and April.

Here is Michelle, Bianca, and I in the morning...we were watching the movie the Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood! Fun memories!
Then Bianca said "let's pretend like we are just waking up!" but instead we look like we are dead! Silly girls!

Dancing 101

2007-11-10T23:42:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!We practiced this dance one time and perfected it as you can see.

Disco Dancing

2007-11-10T23:37:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!This is really Cyndi and I dancing. Arent we good?

Digi-Scrappin'

2007-11-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hey all I just wanted to share some of my most recent layouts that I've done. They are all with elements by Jacque Larsen (b/c as you know I'm on her design team...and FYI you can get all of these elements at theDigiChick.com) Also I wanted to quickly describe how to digi-scrap (I know some people are curious) but I'm going to put it at the bottom of the post so if you don't want to read it just skip it.

So...99.999% of Digi-Scrappers do it in some sort of PhotoShop but I am probably the only CRAZY person who does it on PowerPoint 2007. Anyway, the first step to starting to digi-scrap is to download some papers and elements, etc. I would start with FREEBIES!!! You can get a million from a website called ikeagoddess.blogspot.com she lists about 12 Freebies each DAY! Just like paper scraping you layer your items any way you want them. The difference is that it's all digital...so each paper is it's own file and each element is a separate file, etc. So you just insert all items that you want on your page and arrange them the way you need/want them. You can make your pages any size you want. I'm making them 12x12 like most scrapbooks and then when you are done you just have them printed in a book.

It's super fun...if you are interested you should try it! Happy Scrappin!

Fun Friends

2007-11-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...it's been a crazy week.
So, 2 Tuesdays ago (10/23) Michelle Mitchel (my friend from Ventura who is going to school in Utah now) called me to see if I wanted to get together for dinner. So after my class that night we meet up at the Mayan!!! It's a Mexican restaurant that has cliff divers...it's super cool for anyone who has never been. We hadn't seen each other since Craig and I moved back to Cali at the beginning of the summer. So we had a lot to catch up on! It was so fun though...we talked all through dinner and then just stayed around until we ended up being the last customers in the restaurant! And then we still went and talked in the car for a little bit longer. It was fun to see her.
Then for Halloween we were planning on just staying home and passing out candy but then that day our friends Matt and Sadie called to invite us over to play games and have fun times! So after I got off work Craig and I went to the grocery to get some yummy snacks and brought some games over to Matt and Sadie's house. They gave us the grand tour (which was fun) they just bought this cute little house up the street from us. So anyway we make some yummy punch type stuff (sprite with Sherbet in it) ate pumpkin cookies, chips and artichoke dip, and of course CANDY. We played taboo and Imagine If! We had such a good time...laughin' and giglin'!!! Right before we left Matt showed us a video from his band playing live. It was cool! I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera and Matt took a couple but...anyway...Thanks Matt and Sadie for inviting us over, We had a BLAST!!!

Halloween FHE

2007-10-28T18:51:00.001-06:00

Last Monday (10/22) we invited one of our couples friends Matt and Sadie over for Family Home Evening. We carved pumpkins, ate pumpkin cake (the recipe that I posted previously), drank hot caramel apple cider (that was DELICIOUS! Thanks Sadie), and made pumpkin seeds! We also played the Wii for a while. We had such a fun time! Thanks for coming over Matt and Sadie!
Here is the four of us CARVING away!
Matt being silly and Sadie showing her jack-o-lantern concept
C & C showing our skills
This is Craig's GOOFY pumpkin (not Disney Goofy...just silly goofy)

Here is my finished product...I don't know if you can really tell but it is a PICASO Pumpkin! So everything is askew! I dunno...something different!
Sadie with her silly pumpkin
And Matt with his INTENSE clock pumpkin! What is funny is that he was the one that when we started he didn't really want to do it and didn't have any idea's and then he came up with the most unique idea and and idea that would take the longest to carve! but it was really cool! Nice work Matt!

Craig and Sadie playing the Wii while Matt is STILL carving his pumpkin!
When Matt was FINALLY done carving then him and Sadie played the Wii...Sadie is basically ducking b/c Matt was getting so into it and almost hit her a few times.

I played the Wii too but when you are the photographer you don't always get in the pictures.

Anyway it was so much fun! Hope we can get together again!

no posts

2007-10-27T12:37:00.001-06:00

Hey all...I have been trying to post stuff for a few days but ever time I try to load pictures it says there is an ERROR or that they can't load them right now...try again in 30 seconds! But it still never works. SORRY I have a few things to post but I haven't gotten it to work yet. Check back soon!

Salt Lake Sunday

2007-10-22T23:28:00.000-06:00

On Sunday in the morning I woke up a little before Craig and wanted to make him some breakfast...I was going to make pancakes from scratch but then I realised I didn't have any syrup and thinking back to making syrup how it's basically all sugar I thought I could make that too until I realized that I needed Maple flavoring!!! So I called my parents to double check and then my dad told me that Mom had made Popeye Pancakes for them so I decided to copy them. So Here are my Popeye Pancakes before they cooled (that's my favorite part about them...that they get all tall and crazy first).
After Breakfast and getting ready for church we walked over to the church (as usual) but the doors where locked and all the lights were out in the church!!! We then realized that it was stake conference. So we walked back home and got into our car and drove over to temple square. We didn't know what time it started b/c we were both out of town last Sunday and missed the announcement. Anyway long story short we asked some people and it hadn't started yet...we were just on time. It was held in the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. It was neat...except they were having problems with the sound system so we really didn't hear much of the speakers.

After Conference we decided to drive out to see the GREAT SALT LAKE! We have never been before (well I sort of went once for a YW thing but we didn't go down to the water...we were just at the Salt Air). So it was fun. We went down to the "Marina" which is so tiny! We walked down to the water and we even put our finger in it and then licked our fingers to see just how salty it was...and WHOOO-EEE is it salty!

So as we are in the parking lot looking down at the shoreline we see all this white stuff and we both say "SALT" and we were talking about how we should have brought zip-lock bags for salt and then when we get down there,.,.

Come to find out it's just BUBBLES!This area looked like a little Jacuzzi it was a small enclosed area with rocks and a bunch of bubbles...it made me really miss the hot tub at our old complex.
I had fun taking pictures of all the suds. I don't know why I was so fascinated with them...but they were so pure and white.
Here is my cute boy with the snowy mountains behind him. It is like winter here already. I hate it. It should not be snowing!!!!
All in all it was a fun little adventure!