Another break

Yesterday at church Chris and I were cuddling on the pew enjoying combined priesthood/relief society meeting when Cecily came and stood next to the pew cradling her left arm and crying "Jared hurt me!". I held her and tried looking at it and she freaked when I touched it, I knew right away it was broken. In our ward building the south side classrooms are always FREEZING so the sunbeam teacher always takes them on a walk to thaw out (I don't know how she does it, one teacher to elevan 4 year olds on a walk is craziness to me) Anyway, she said "time to go back!" and they all ran to the door. Cecily collided with Jared, they both fell and Cecily must have used her left arm to break her fall.
We ate dinner at my moms house and she told me that her neighbor is a doctor at the ER so she called him up to see if he could take a look at it. He said it was most likely broken and wrote me a prescription to get an xray done the next morning and to have it faxed to my moms fax. I waited at the dumb, smelly SimonMed for 2 hours to get the xrays and then an hour later my mom called with the news that it was broken in two places right above her wrist.

In doctor language

"Minimally impacted but otherwise nondisplaced tortus fracture of the dorsal cortex of the distal left radial metaphysis. Minimal irregularity of the lateral aspect of the distal left ulnar metaphysis raising the possibility of a nondisplaced torus fracture at this site as well."

I was really nervous about going to the doctor since Cecily only broke her foot 3 months ago. My biggest nightmare is that CPS will be called on me. At least I have a congregation of people as my witnesses, but the doctor and PA saw the humor in it and kept teasing me so that was a relief.
Again, I'm grateful for kick-A health insurance, and children who keep things exciting weekly.

ps: Jocelyn has another VERY loose tooth so stay tuned.

The L-Bomb!

August 30, 2002

Chris's grandparents on the Richards side spend every labor day weekend down in San Carlos, Mexico and this year they paid for their entire family to go down with them for TEN DAYS! Now, this sounds like a very nice trip but for me it sounded like PURE TORTURE! Chris took me out to breakfast then dropped me off at my house for our final goodbye before he left with his family and he left me a dozen red roses. (Since he was going to be in Mexico he wouldn't be able to call me or anything.) Before I get to the good part I need to tell you what I did for him. I bought this awesome hallmark (fresh ink!) card that had a baby on the cover, covering it's eyes and on the front it said "One... two... three... four... ok you can come back now." (It still makes me want to cry everytime I think about it) then I wrote him a long letter saying how much I would miss him and care about him... blah blah blah. And I made him a mixed CD. It was the very best mixed CD EVER, it will put all the ones you ever made to shame. I called it Mexican Favorites. Each song was either about missing him or had some sort of connection to our dating story.

1. Island in the Sun - Weezer (WEEZER OH YEAH!)
2. I Miss You - Incubus
3. Tomorrow - Eve 6
4. All the Small Things - Blink 182 (I hate this band but Chris really likes them)
5. Your Song - Ewan McGregor (He watched Moulin Rouge for the first time with me)
6. You Belong to Me - Lifehouse (We ended up dancing to this for our first dance)
7. Eighteen - Hometown Hero (saw them in concert)
8. My Name is Jonas - Weezer (Chris favorite Weezer song)
9. Screaming Infidelities - Dashboard (saw them in concert)
10. Eidleweiss - Sound of Music (the song I made him sing me before our first kiss)
11. Bed of Lies - Matchbox 20
12. Distance - Evan and Jaron
13. You're so Vain - Carly Simon (just to be funny)
14. Elephant Love Medley - Moulin Rouge
15. Save it for Later - Splendor (saw them in concert)
16. Complicated - Avril Lavign (saw her in concert)
17. Yellow - Coldplay
18. Everything - Lifehouse

So I gave him this card and told him not to open it til he got there and we hugged and he whispered in my ear, "I love you" and it was so so so sweet but I had told myself I wasnt' ever going to say it back right away because I wanted to do it on my own time so I said "thank you". (cue regret here) We kiss goodbye and he's gone. (He later told me he ended up reading the card when he got to the car. I don't blame the guy! I just said thank you to his meaningful I love you! I was an idiot!) Well, I didn't know what to do. I went to work and then my BFF Elisa came into town for the weekend so I went out with her after work and I told my friend Brett what I did and he told me to call him right then and tell him. So I did, and I got his voicemail and told him I loved him on the voicemail. For the entire time Chris was away I filled his voicebox with messages. Thank goodness he gave me his code so I could get in and delete the ones where I was totally psycho.
To relieve some of the stress of my stupidity me and Elisa took about a zillion different pictures with these flowers.

(Chris in Mexico holding his nephew)

Temple and Sushi!

Here's an invite to all...

If you don't like sushi join us at the temple, if you can't make the temple join us for sushi! If you can't make either here's a little save the date for ya! We're going to have a "Farewell to Us" party Thursday, September 24 at our home with treats and a little address book for everyone to fill out so we can have your info.

A Justified Trip

While taking a break from packing boxes I bring you ANOTHER trip to my family ranch in Heber post. (Yey! We remembered our camera this time! I'm glad cause we had FUN!)
We drove up Thursday after the family dinner party, we left Mesa about 10:30ish and made it there at 1am.
Chase and Beth joined up Friday night around 10pm and we had a blast hanging out with these two newlyweds. (Beth is Cecily's favorite aunt and she was in CB heaven with her there to cuddle and giggle with). Beth and I aren't in any pictures because we enjoyed our time playing games and reading our really sad books. (Hers probably more sad than mine because I didn't start sobbing like a baby about mine til I got home). As usual here are the highlights of the trip.

I put together a 999 (missing one!) puzzle all by myself in less than 14 hours. I KNOW!


Notice Asher is holding a blanket, bottle and toy gun? Ahhh... life as a boy.


Fry's didn't have the stick on eye patches so I had to get the one-size-fits-all-pirate-patch but it's ok cause she got some good "Arrrr!'s" out of it.


Ash LOVED riding the quads, he made sure he rode with Daddy and uncle Chase. Beth took Jocelyn on a nice long ride and Chris freaked Cecily out enough where I don't think she'll ever ride again.


Chase and Chris rode to go shooting, it started POURING on their way back and they got all muddy and wet.


Asher getting some more uncle time.


Jocelyn decided she wanted to do a puzzle all by herself. I helped her on the harder pieces but she did everything else by herself (300 pieces! I'm so proud!)


We went on a little drive with the kids to Halls place (aka pottery hill) I remembered there was a creepy well in some trees there but with the fire I couldn't remember exactly where it was until I found it. (I'm really good at eye spy games) Don't worry we checked to make sure Samara wasn't there to eat us.


Then we took a nice little hike around Pope's land and Jocelyn asked if she could live here. Umm... no.


The view from our front door as it rained all evening and night. It was a glorius trip! It's really hard to go from sweater weather to oven baking but that's ok we'll be in Ft. Collins soon!

We're moving! He said She said style

Chris first. (cause he's older).

Katie and I have always had a secret secret love affair with the State of Colorado. We are not sure exactly where the infatuation came from, I think that came from that one time when I was five and that guy gave me a swig of his Coors. That sweet taste of the Rockies, funny the things we pick up on when we are little kids.
Anyway, love affair, Colorado. So about three years ago Katie and I decided that if we ever moved out of state it would be Colorado. And there the thought was planted and lay dormant for another 2 and half years. November 2007 we took a trip to Colorado Springs (a city south of Denver, and Denver is in Colorado). We liked the city and the idea of moving, but the timing just didn't seem right. Fast forward to January 2009 one boy and second house later. The Rocky Mountain fever started to set in again. I applied for a job in Denver. I passed the written interview, phone interview, and then they flew me up for the face to face. No dice. But it was a secret blessing cause about week later Ash got really really sick and spent a week in the hospital and we had to get new renters.
Over the next few months we resigned to the idea of staying in Mesa for a while longer. We got my sister to move into a house around the corner and we started to make some good friends in the ward. Then I went and messed it all up. I was chatting with an old boss, Brent up in Fort Collins (Ft Collins is north of Denver, and remember Denver is in Colorado, this will all be on the test, I sure hope you are taking notes, slacker). Anyway, chatting, old boss, here we go. So we were chatting and I asked him if he would let me know next time he was hiring. He said he would and then said that he is. He asked what Katie thought about moving, I told him it was her idea. Well Kate and I went back and forth about the idea. We ended up deciding not to apply.
Then something interesting happened. I stated thinking. Me thinking can be interesting by its self, but in this case it was what I was thinking, that was interesting. I started to think what is keeping us in one place, what is holding us back, and maybe who is holding us back, from doing what we want to do. I started thinking that I will only live once and I didn’t want my one go at life to be filled with regrets. Not the regrets of something I did, but the kind that creep up when you didn’t do something and you never know what might have happened if you had just took that step into the unknown. The clinical term is Self-Determined, it is the need to be in control of your own life and Kate and I didn’t feel in control. Not that anyone was holding a gun to our temples, but that expectations and the fear of the unknown was keeping us back.

I could feel who I am, changing. Growing. I look at things just a little different now. Life is something not to be squandered. If you don’t like the view, change it. And we were tired of the same old daisies. So I tossed in my resume and put the rest into the hands of more capable people. Before I did this, Katie and I had been doing some serious consultaion with our Father in Heaven. We fasted, prayed, and sought inspiration at the Temple. We were blessed with confirmation that the time was right. Not only were we blessed with a sure knowledge but with inspiration on how to make it all work.
I had the phone interview on a Monday morning two weeks ago. I think it went rather well. I saw that now cause I gots the job, but a second after I hung up the phone a millon thoughts ran through my head of what I said wrong or what I forgot to say. Oh well. He told me that it would take a couple of days to a couple of weeks for the back ground check and appliciaon to be processed. After the interview Katie and I decided that if we were going to do this we needed to do it all the way. And by all the way I mean put our house up for sale before we knew if we had the job. We wanted to give the ol’ faith and works thing a go. And it worked cause the day after I got the call, our realtor got a call and an offer on the house.
After I got the call I checked with NASA and they confimed that due to Saturns norther axis rotation alinign with Earths Moon, that time actuly slowed for about a week and half. Totally weired cause that is the same amount of time it took for Brent to get back to me about if I got the job or not. Space stuff is cool.

A lot of really cool things have happened to Katie and I on Thursdays. Katie being born, getting engaged and married, we found out we were moving. It was about 4 PM and I heard my phone buzz, it was Brent, from Colorado (Colorado is a State, a State in the Union, and for Katie and I, now a state of mind). Anyway, phone, buzzing, here we go. I had been checking my phone every ten to fifteen mins everyday since the phone interview. When I was not checking my phone I was checking my email. This kept me pretty busy.

When I answered the phone it was Brent, just like the caller ID said. We small chatted for about a min and then he told me I got the job. I had to go outside I was so excited. But even outside I couldn’t scream and yell and push people to the ground and tell them I got the job. So I was content with a big stupid grin and squeeling while I covered the mouth piece. We chatted about moving and job stuff and scheduled some time to talk again on Monday.
I love to call Katie at random times throughout the day during what we call now “The Waiting” just to hear her voice crack in anticipation only for me to tell her I hadn’t heard back. During all of this I told her that I could be strong enough not to tell her over the phone when I got the Colorado call. She didn’t have faith in me, I saw this as a challenge and I like to win challenges. And I did. Cause I survived two phone calls with her after I found out and made it all the way home. This was big as news goes and I wanted to see her face, to scream with her, and to hug her when she found out. So I gets home run into the bedroom for my welcome home hug. I get close to her left ear and whisper that I got a call from Colorado and they want me to work for them. I think I blacked out after that cause all I can remember after that is waking up on the roof with a toga on, and a goat tied to the chimney.
And that is the story in 1200 words or less (actually a bit more). And the best part about it is its only the beginning. Crap did I just say that how freaking cliché.


My turn! Same story just my version of it.

Since February Chris and I have been going back and forth about actually applying and moving to Colorado. Thank goodness he didn't get the job the first time around. (Renter issues, Asher in the hospital, the timing just wasn't going to work out.) We decided to keep rocking with plan A that we'll move once we graduate. Then a few weeks ago the discussions started up again. Chris's amazing boss from his Online days had transferred to the Ft.Collins campus, so Chris was chatting with him on a Monday three weeks ago and said "Hey, will you let me know when you're hiring up there" and Brent the boss said "I'm hiring now."

By that night we decided not to do it, the timing wasn't going to work out and the stress of renting two houses would be too hard from 1000 miles away. Tuesday Chris was at work and again started talking about it. By Wednesday afternoon he submitted his resume and there was no going back. The following Monday Chris had a phone interview and Brent the boss said "once your background check comes back we'll make our decision" We patiently waited for him to call.
Chris and I had this heated debate about whether he would call me while at work once he got the call whether he got the job or not. I said he wouldn't be able to handle it and would have to call me ASAP. He then took that as a challenge that he could wait till he got home from work to tell me if he got the job or not. "We'll see" I said.

Thursday was a crazy day, I was out shopping forever and had left my phone at home. Chris had called me around 4pm and so I called Chris when I got home at 4:30pm we chatted about my crazy afternoon getting ready for the ranch blah blah blah... ok I'm busy I'll see you when you get home.
When Chris came home he came and found me getting ready for the family surprise dinner extravaganza, we went to hug each other and I went in for a kiss and he went in to whisper something in my ear ending up in some awkward cheek-kiss-thing. I could feel him shaking and then whisper "Brent called me..." and I freaked, and he freaked and then I had a heart attack and then ran around the house trying to remember what I needed to do and then I called my mom, and some moving companies.

If you have made it to this part of the blog congrats you get a hug.

We're moving September 26, so be on the lookout for a invitation to our goodbye party!

Thank goodness for journals

Friday, August 23, 2002

Now that I was officially his "girlfriend" there were no more freaking out moments (except one more but it wasn't a bad freak out, more of a I wish I did that differently and that will come Aug 30) and no looking back. Chris and Ammon planned a great double to an Indian food restaurant "Copper Kettle" (still the best Indian food I've had but once they hit the dirty dining report it explained everything) After our dining adventure we went and saw the Vin Diesel movie XXX.

Now onto the juicy part.

Ammon drove and Amy needed to get home so he dropped me and Chris off at my house then dropped Amy off at her house (which wasn't too far from mine). We decided to hang out outside and wait for Ammon to come back to get Chris. We're sitting in one of those round chairs that balances on another round thing... can't remember what it was called!..and I remember I made Chris sing "edelweiss" to me (FYI: this is my favorite part of sound of music and I melt everytime I hear it!) We're sitting pretty close and I could FEEL his heart pounding, then he points it out.

Chris: Can you feel my heart pounding?

Katie:(knowing fully why his heart is beating out of his chest) Why?

Chris: Because I want to ask you a question.

Katie: Yeah...?

Chris: Can I kiss you?

Katie: YES!

Then he gave me the quickest, most innocent kiss of my life and it was fantastic! It was so fantastic by the way that I didn't remember any of these little details without my journal. In fact I even scrapbooked the wrong date! (why didn't I consult the journal?!)

It was a little awkward when Ammon came back, knowing this was all prearranged or at least felt that way. I never asked Chris, I'll find out if it was.

SIDE STORY:

Chris was extremely stuck-up about his clothes. He only shopped at Abercrombie and Gap. Those who know me know I'm the opposite. He took me shopping one night and FORCED me to pick out a shirt so he could buy it for me. This shirt I'm wearing was nearly $30 bucks and it almost killed me that he paid that much for it. On my way home from work before this date I went to the mall and bought two pairs of Abercrombie pants to go with it (thank goodness for clearance!)

We found out today

We're heading out of town we'll tell you all about it when we get home but here's a hint...

newest surreal parent moment

Jocelyn had told me a couple days ago that she had a loose tooth. I was ecstatic! Finally a tooth that will come out on it's own without needing to be pulled by the dentist. Yesterday I gave the kids ice cream sandwiches while they were eating I heard a scream. Jocelyn comes running in blood on her face and holding a nearly detached tooth in her mouth. Chris held her while I pulled the tooth from the stubborn gum. It was pretty surreal cause I still remember my mom helping me pull my teeth. When I got it out I shouted for joy and she gave a laugh sob (ladies, you know the one if you've had a baby) and began to wail again. Chris wouldn't let me comfort her til we got a picture.

my love story continued

With school starting and other events I've neglected telling the rest of my love story. I left off with the Weezer concert which was a pretty important night for us.

August 9, 2002
(Friday)

My friends Danny and Amber came into town so we went on a triple date with the A-Team (Ammon and Amy) to Jesterz improv. This was a BIG night for me. When Chris came and picked me up my sisters friend Heidi answered the door, and having never met my mom Chris thought she was my mom. Ohhh... if you knew Heidi you would know the good laugh I got out of this. Anyway, I come to the door and see Chris in a plaid shirt, khaki pants and holding a bouquet of yellow daisies. Now, daisies are far from my favorite flower but when I saw him it was like I ran into a brick wall, I knew I was in love. We had a total blast at the improv.

August 10, 2002
(Saturday)

I went shopping with Amber and she was asking about what was going on with Chris and I told her "he's the one, this is it." Looking back into my journal I did something else this night too but I didn't write it down! All I said is that I got home at 2am and I was with Chris but I don't remember what...

August 11, 2002
(Sunday)

A friend Sandi invited me to go to a fireside with her and I was already looking for an excuse to do something with Chris so I called and invited him to go too. I sat so close to him and he put his arm around me. Then he came home with me and we sat in my parents living room talking. He met my mom and brother Michael. We talked about fears and all that good stuff. I told him my biggest fear would be being alone and being hurt and he wrote this on a little piece of paper.

At some point we ended up holding hands and it was really nice.

Alright, to save you anymore reading I'll give you the gist of what happened the next 9 days. We talked or saw each other everyday. One moment I thought he was head over heals for me and then the next moment I get a wiff of him thinking of running off cause things were going so fast. Which brings me to what happened on TUES, AUGUST 20, 2009.

(Sorry you do need to know what happened the day before Mon, Aug 19) It was my day off. I waited all day for him to get off work so we could hang out, we didn't talk all day. He never called on his drive home, and I kept calling him and no answer. Finally I called his house and someone told me he was asleep (WAKE HIM UP!) He finally called me around 9ish..? I can't remember but it was late enough where he basically told me it was too late to hang out. Well, actually he did say exactly that and like the 2 year old I was I kept telling him to come over and he said no (I was really hinting to him to invite me to his house, I didn't mind driving but he didn't invite me over so...it was like a freakin' dagger in my heart.)
On Tuesday, I was home all day which made time drag and Chris didn't call me again during the day. After waiting for him the day before and then going on another day with no calls I decided it was time to call Amy and have her do some detective work on Ammon to find out if things were going anywhere which Chris. I wasn't going to invest anymore time and emotional craziness if he was just having fun.
A week before my friend at work had told me she had someone she wanted to set me up with and I told her no that things were looking really good with Chris. So when I got to work that day the first thing I did was go up and tell her to set me up. Maybe an hour later my mom called me at work and told me that she had just talked with Amy and that Chris did want to be with me! Needless to say I immediately told my friend I was just kidding about being set up.
Chris went with Ammon to buy Amy's engagement ring and came and brought me a Jamba Juice at work and told me to come to Ammon's house when I got off work. We stayed there talking til 12:30am when Ammon kicked us out and we went and walked and talked. This post is already too long, but he said to me (and this is a direct quote from my journal.) "I think I've fallen for a girl, her name is Katie. Will you be my girl?" Ummm... YES! Yes Chris I will!!! I'm sure I didn't say it like that...maybe I did... but I was defiantly freaking out inside, shouting for joy that it was real and not some amazing dream I was going to wake up from.

PS: I know I sound like a desperate re-bounding lunatic but in my defense I was 19 and already a not patient person. I'm still not, when I want something I want it now and I wanted Chris!

It's a fact, kids can sleep anywhere.

We went out on a DB (double date) with Jacob and Katie to get happy hour sushi (a whole list of yummy rolls for $4.50 each! Thanks be to Chelsea and Mitch for introducing us to the place!) Anyway, I came home and went to check on the girls and didn't see Cecily in bed. I went to investigate and kicked this tuberware out of the way but it didn't move, so I lifted up the blanket and there was Cecily! Asleep in her little... vampire bed?

She was ticked off when we made her move!

Other random pictures...

a Perfect Saturday

Our home is older and the original owners kept the yard amazingly perfect and beautiful. Some of our neighbors still remember them and think we're lazy cause we can't keep up with all the work the. yard requires. Chris and I swore to eachother that we would do the yard work on Saturday
Chris and I slept in til almost nine, a very important goal also sworn on. I figured that it's never too late to start the yard work... Umm... I was wrong in this assumption. In Arizona any outside activity starting after 6am is a mistake and should be abandoned immediately, but we hung in there til 12pm. We ditched the side yard having given up on that forest of despair a long time ago. We got all the important stuff done though.

(this photo was taken 4 months ago when everything still looked good)

Chris went and got his hair cut (THANK GOODNESS!) and I took the coldest shower ever. After lunch we did our bi-monthly thrift store shopping trip. Cecily found ANOTHER care bear (Welcome to the family Birthday Bear!) and Jocelyn found a purse with a "j" on it. Leaving the Goodwill there was tall black man in the parking lot wearing a very purple suit. Like this.

Cecily said "Wow! He went to a purple party!"

When we got home Chris and I took a very nice nap and woke up to go play in the irrigation at the Nash residence. We put the kids to bed at 8pm and we had the evening together playing rummy cube, watching Anne of Green Gables (which is surprisingly off from the book) and eating ice cream (ROCKY ROAD!)

ps: We fought the carne asada fries battle and WON! Usually they win and filburtos gets 6 bucks and we get a little fatter.

Be Prepared...

This is probably the cutest picture I have seen in awhile. I love the cousin pictures because I think they are the funniest to look back on when everyone is older. These are the 5 youngest boy cousins on the Rogers' side. The oldest Gunner, then Milas (holding his new baby brother Espyn) Ash-man is next with the always smiling Walter (aka Aksel) and his big blue eyes.