AZ. Where its still warm in September.

I love Arizona. Friends, Family, almost year round summer. I have accomplished what I set out to do here.

1. Surprise the pants off my Mom for her big '5-Oh'. Hands were in the air, shock, and a lot of screaming. Poor Liam got scared. It was perfect. Dad took Mom in the bedroom and told her that he ordered something for her birthday, but he wasn't sure if it would get here in time. Then Zoey walks in the room, followed by me and Liam. She was so happy.

2. Take Breaelle shopping. Blossom, poppies, orange patch and Anthro.

Breaelle! She doesn't like photos. We'll have to work on that...

3. Eat Tia Rosas, Barros, and In-n-Out.

4. Play settlers of catan ( I ALMOST won. Joey won. If I had gone before him, I would have. Damn.)

5. Hang out with my brothers and sisters. How cool I can say sisters! Cinny AND Breaelle! c&b were there mon-fri. It was so great to see them.

Liam loves Uncle Cody. He makes this noise that sounds lust like Chewbacca. (SP?)

6. Hang out with my parental units. Coolest people around, fo sho.

Mom and Joey. Happy B-day Mom!!

7. Eat A LOT of crap. Oreo cookies with Dad at 11:30 discussing the idiocy of Obama. (Seriously, why did a first term senator get the presidential nom? SERIOUSLY!? Has this man even heard of foreign policy? I think my favorite miss-step so far is the "Let NATO deal with Russia Georgia conflict." Moron. Russia has a VETO VOTE. What good will that do??? Idiot.) Good times.




8. Getting totally excited with Mom about the VP Nom. Sarah Palin. What a woman. Mother of 5, been a mayor, govenor, and sticks to her guns. AND has more experience than Obama. Did I mention that she is the VP Nom??!!?? As my mother so wisely put, "Obama may be half black, but Palin is 100% woman!" (Eat that Hillary)

9. Be uncomfortably hot. Go swimming. YESS!! It felt good to be hot. The fact that I could survive a summer with no AC, says to me that it isn't really summer.

10. Go to lunch with the Aunts, and hang out with Stacey. BFF!!! Met her boyfriend, Scott. Very cute, total package kinda guy.

This is stacey with zoey. She is awesome. And just as irreverant as I am...



Now my 'to-do' list is

Find 6 month rental.

Move

Await what happens to us. No easy task.

Telluride~Happy Birthday to Me!!

Telluride highlights.

1. Hanging out with Fancy Grammy and Grandpa Pullman. Zoey and Liam were in heaven. Zoey adores them. Liam LOVES his grandpa. Zoey thrives off of all the attention they give her.

2. Riding the Gondola. It starts at the top of the Mountain Village, goes to the center of Mountain Village, then to the top of the Ski Mountain, and then down into Telluride. Its free, and to Zoey, it was like a roller coaster. The views are amazing.

3. The Food. Telluride does not allow any chains of any sorts. Not even a Starbucks. So everything is unique, original, and no where else. Pick one, they were all amazing. I highly recommend Cocina del Luz, and Ristico Restorante.

Zoey was very interested in her culinary experience. The magazine was 'Telluride Dining"

4. The mountains. They are unreal. This is just one of the surrounding mountains.

5. This sign.

6. Zoey almost breaking her nose as soon as we got to the condo. Totally freaked me out.

7. The culinary and arts festival going on at the Mountain Village. I saw the coolest photography I've seen in a while. Gave me some cool ideas for some decor in a rec or a kids room. And met one of the winners from Top Chef. The only 'celebrity' I have met...

8. My 25th birthday. Whoo Hoo. Somehow that makes me feel more respectable. I got a really cool ring from Damon, although the trip was my b-day gift.

9. Completing my 'cool mountain town t-shirt collection'. Telluride, Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, Durango. (I realize that makes me sound very 'un-25'.)

10. Zoey climbed on those huge rainbow monkey bar things all by herself. I told her she was awesome, and then she told me, "I know, I'm great!" She is so humble.

11. Liam sounding like he was talking Chinese. His baby babble sounds exactly like it. Soo funny.

After being to every town I want to go to except Boulder, I have to say Telluride is my favorite. It is the one place in Colorado that I think everyone should go to.

Beach Volley Ball

While watching the olympics with Damon, I was fine with watching track, gymnastics, ect. We casually watch it. Ya know. But when beach volleyball comes on, for some reason, he gets really, can't take his eyes off it, into it. Here is what I think the reason is...

Hmmmm. Seriously. He thinks he is sooo clever...

A little bit of hope

I have been literally driving myself crazy with the prospects of what could happen to us in the next couple of months. Damon's company is in the process of being acquired by another company, which means a whole lot of uncertainty for us. From the rumor mills, it has been 'good news', but until they say who is buying us, and if we have a job or a severance package, I am so nervous. We find out what happens at the end of August. We think... Our lease is up in September, and we need to move into a home with a yard. We don't know if 1. Damon will have a job in 2 months. 2. How much longer we are going to be in the Springs. Which also means that we don't know where we will be living in 2 months. Which makes looking for a home virtually pointless. My little bit of hope is that Damon hit his two year mark with DEY L.P. yesterday. And on the same day he got a call from a head hunter for a specialty pharma company about a position in the area. It was one of those 'tender mercies' moments for me. My little answer to prayer that the Lord had not forgotten me, and had, in fact, heard my truly pathetic, frequent prayers when I was on the verge of a total melt down. I don't know how it will work out, or if he will even get an interview, but I know that the simple possibility gave me the little bit hope that I needed. I also realize that I need to have more faith that we will be taken care of. I can't plan everything to a 'T'. It is amazing how He can show you your weaknesses and teach you something all at the same time. Thank goodness for hope.

Bless your heart....

I was talking to my Mom on the phone the other day, and she told me something that made me laugh. You can say something'not so nice' about someone if you follow it with, 'Bless her/his heart', then it doesn't count.

'She is just a little cranky, bless her heart."

This is what Damon has been saying about me a lot lately. ;)

Summer

I've posted a lot of our trips, but not of the day to day summer activities. It can be summed up in one word. Pool. Swim. Tan. Yeah baby. I look awesomely tan right now. Yyyeeeessssss.

I believe the word you are searching for is HOT. Hello Lover.

Zoey and Andrew have been nearly inseparable this summer. The are 'bwest fwiends', as Zoey says. These are some pics of them at the ward pioneer days party.

The three legged race. I love the focus. Even the tongue is out.

So I finally got the reception pics from Dave. He had my memory card. They turned out great. Its nice to have some family photos. I had a blast editing them.

This is my Aunt Lynanne. She came all the way from Canada for the wedding. Liam LOVES her.

My Dad and his little Zoey. He adores that little girl. Can't really blame him.

Me and my hottie of a lil' sis Corinn. That hair is natural, btw. (Hers, not mine...unfortunately...)

Parade of Homes

The Parade of Homes starts today. I highly recommend going. Wednesday night I photographed three of them. The first was a home that was very traditional, very beautiful, even though I thought the granite color looked like puke. While I was talking to the interior designer of the home, she told me that the next one we were going to was contemporary. Red flags went up all over the place. Contemporary? In the Parade? Seriously? Aren't they trying to sell the home? What she failed to mention was the inspiration behind it. Drexel Heritage designed a whole like of furniture that is based off Walt Disney's home in the 1940's. I walked in and was BLOWN AWAY! It was sophisticated, classy, contemporary, original. In essence, Disney Chic. Now, there were no princess rooms, no character posters strewn about. The dinning room inspiration was

( I am not sure if Legally I am allowed to post these, so this one I took really quick as I was leaving. Obviously not the right lens... and the lighting was taken down...so its not a great shot, but you get the idea.)

Cinderella's ball gown, silver, gold, powder blue and pale bronze. One of the many half baths was inspired by space mountain. It was my favorite. 3x3 inch black glass tiles lined the walls floor to ceiling. The ceiling was painted black with fiber optic lights that looked like stars. The Master bedroom was like if Snow White lived today. Everything was black and while. Some of the most beautiful draperies, tile, the bathroom made me feel glamorous just walking in it. The Interior Designer, Stephanie, picked EVERYTHING out. Designed the house. She is one to look out for. I loved it. This particular home is in Flying Horse. There is a tent to purchase tickets. It is worth it. If I had 1.75 million extra dollars, I would by this home and move in tomorrow.

So Disappointed...

WARNING- THIS POST IS SOMEWHAT OF A SPOILER...

To everyone who has read the twilight series... I am begging you, DO NOT READ THE LAST BOOK, BREAKING DAWN. I found myself thinking, 'Seriously?' and 'Yeah right' and 'How long did she spend writing this, 5 minutes?' and 'A half vampire, half human baby...rrriiiggghhhttt...'. The book tainted the whole series (or as she puts it 'Saga'). Ending on a bad note. Never a good thing. My advice to Stephanie Meyer, take your time and write something worthwhile. No character development, everything felt at a standstill even tough the 'story' moved forward, and if I hear one more freakin' time how 'beauitful' or 'perfect', or 'amazing' Edward is, I'm gonna scream. It should have ended with book three. I feel jilted for buying the book. Like she is milking her cash cow a little too much, and gave us skim milk.

Max's help for my lesson

After to talking to Michelle last night, she said I should post more of my brother's letters. I month or two ago, I taught a lesson on the responsibilities of a missionary. I e-mailed my brother Max and this was his reply. I was blown away.





Rach,

Thank you so much for your letter... I love hearing that my experiences here are affecting lives all the way over there in the states. Gives me a sense of how broad the scope of this work is.. as for your lesson, here's what I would say:

The best way to understand the responsibilities and sacred calling of a missionary is from the scriptures. Missionaries from the Bible and especially the Book of Mormon show exactly what missionary work is. We're all familiar with the scripture/saying "God is Love." From my experiences over the past months, i can say that "missionary work is love." The number one responsibility and fuel of missionary service is love. From that stems everything else. If you love the people you serve and the Savior, then all the commandments, teachings and ordinances make perfect sense. If you love someone, you want them to be happy. A person is only happy when he live correctly and is free from sins - and that is only possible through repentance and baptism. If you "love" someone, but not enough to speak with them about the gospel or bear your testimony, then your sense of love has been warped. No brother's keeper could watch someone he loves "droop in sin." That's what a missionary does... he is given the mantle of the Lord, which includes personal revelation, and revelation for his flock. He uses that, along with other gifts of the Spirit, to introduce the restored gospel to his brothers and sisters.

hope that helps... love you all, and tell zoey HAPPY BIRTHDAY from uncle max

Elder Eddington

(This is Max before he left A YEAR AGO!! I can't believe it has been a year already. He is now in Riga, Latvia.)

Direct, eloquent, beautiful. I love missionary letters.