In a Nutshell

I've been mulling this post over in my mind for many months now and figured that now is as good a time as any to catch my lovely followers up to speed, or at least try. As I stated in my last post, the last half of year has been kind of crazy, so I'll do my best to remember to hit the highlights.

Christmas 2008 was Addie's first Christmas, and while she was too little to know what was going on, she was still so much fun. My roommate Trish also joined my family for Christmas. She was going to spend Christmas in Idaho with her bother and sister-in-law but the weather made travel dangerous so we had the pleasure of having her with us.


And then came January. This year Trish and I decided to hold an After Party, Party on New Years Eve. The intent of the party was to be able to get together as friends after everyone else had gone to their respective parties. We started at 1 am or so and the last of the partiers left at 5 am or so. Trish and I were not sure what to expect and were pleaseantly suprised by the number of people who came over. We had a blast!


Up next was my birthday (January 31) and as happens every year with my birthday, we had a huge party. I am always in awe of the wonderful friends I have; the evening was a blast!



The rest of the winter and early spring months consisted of meeting new people, playing with my friends, St. George with my siblings, parties, boy trauma, plumbing issues in the house I was living in, finding mold on a couple of my bedroom walls which totally freaked me out, a couple of health scares, lay offs at work, and finding out that I would need to move at the beginning of the summer. With the exception of some weird breathing pattern that I have developed (my mom and I have decided that it's stress induced), I'm fine. And I still have a job, thankfully.

Trish and I undertook the unpleasant task of finding a new place to live in April and I must say we were glad when we found a place to live. We wanted to stay in our ward boundaries, which narrowed our options significantly. After many weeks of looking and frustration we found a decent place that we could afford. We moved the first week in June, and thanks to the many wonderful friends in my ward, the move went quickly and smoothly. And while I miss the kitchen, garage and basic living space I had in the 4th Avenue house, I don't miss mowing the grass, dealing with a plumber, and I won't miss a freezing cold bedroom, a ridiculously high gas bill and removing snow from the driveway.

The summer has been spent playing with family and friends and I am so sad that it's over. Winters are long and hard for me but I know that at the end of the cold is springtime and warmer weather.

I just have to say how thankful I am for my wonderful family and friends. Looking back on the last half of year, I have had some wonderful experiences and a couple that totally broke my heart. I am grateful to my parents and the wonderful support they were during those crazy months when, at times, I seriously thought that I was going to die. I would not have been able to handle all that alone. I am thankful for Trish and the wonderful roommate she is. She is always looking out for me and is almost always there when I am struggling. She's helped me get through some hard stuff. As for my closest friends, (you know who you are) you are my angels. I don't know what I would do with out you.

So, there you go, the last half of year in a nutshell. I am sure I left some stuff out, and if you know of things, feel free to remind me. In any case, I am going to work hard not to let so much time pass in between posts; I have some fun things coming up and a new camera on the way to help me document those fun things.

Thanks for reading. Peace out.

Wow, is that really how long it's been?

I am sure that everyone has stopped checking my blog by now and I would not blame you if you have. I was going through some old pictures on my laptop today and realized that I kind of missed blogging and sharing pictures. Life has been kind of crazy the last half of year but I think I am ready to get back in to the groove. Work has taken over my life the last couple of weeks; however the result will yield some extra money that I can use to purchase a new camera. I need a new one so that I have some motivation to start taking pictures again. Anyway, if you are still with me, thank you. If not, I completely understand.

It's Been Awhile!

I know that you have all been checking my blog regularly and are wondering if I am still alive. Well, rest assured that I am still alive and I’m painfully aware that it has been nearly two months since I have updated my blog. I apologize. December was something of a crazy month for me; however, I’m going to try and be better. I have some pictures from Christmas and New Year’s that I’ll post tomorrow along with a short recap of the month. Hang tight!

GO UTES!

I just had to post this, especially after tonight’s game:


Yeah, I'm one happy Utah fan!

Grandma McKinlay

My grandma passed away two weeks ago and during that time I have been reading tributes to her on different family blogs. I have been wanting to write my own tribute to my grandma but my emotions have been so close to the surface that it has been difficult to write. Even now I am having a hard time; it's difficult to put in to words what she means to me. Now, this will not be nearly as eloquent as my siblings posts but…

My grandma McKinlay has been a key figure in my life since I was born and has helped shape the woman that I am today. Her unconditional love helped me though some challenging times as I matured and I am forever grateful for her influence and example. She is truly amazing. Growing up I loved more than anything to spend time, especially one on one time, with my grandma. And as I got older I treasured my time with her even more, though sometimes there at the end she didn‘t know who I was. I love her so very much and I am going to miss her terribly. I am so very thankful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and I look forward to the day when I get to hug grandma again. I thank my Heavenly Father for my angel grandmother and hope that I can live worthy to be with her again. I love you grandma!


***The pics were taken by my cousin Emily Ann at the funeral on Monday. Thanks for letting me steal them Em!

Cousins

A younger picture of my grandma

My mom and her brother Doug

My brothers- Shawn, Steve, and Mike

Me and my cousin Summer

Siblings-Mar, Kate, and Shawn

Mar and baby Addie

Mar and Kate

Happy Halloween!

I spent a little time today reflecting on Halloween's past and how much fun I always had. I may not dress up or go trick or treating anymore but I still enjoy Halloween. My siblings still dress up and insist that we continue with the food traditions (chili dogs, hot cider, and doughnuts) that my mom started years ago. This year my parents are in Las Vegs but that still didn't stop us from doing the things that we have done for years. We sure had fun. I hope you all had an enjoyable day.

The Halloween fun continues at This Is The Place Heritage Park's 'Haunted Village'

The observation was made Saturday night that we do more activities related to Halloween then we do Christmas. I wonder why that is? Who knows? I do know that a bunch of the Sloanies went to This Is The Place Heritage Park's 'Haunted Village' on Saturday night. It was not at all what we were expecting but it turned out to be fun all the same. We even saw the Headless Horseman riding through the park!

Now, I hate being scared so I generally avoid all things scary at Halloween and scary movies the rest of the year. So, when we got to the park and I realized that the Haunted Village was a haunted house of sorts I wanted to turn around and go home. I stuck it out though and it turned out to be kind of fun. My brothers were full of shenanigans and encouraged the actors throughout the park to scare their sisters. Steven got me good a couple of times and I screamed quite a bit more than I had intended (I was going to be oh so tough). At the end though, I think we decided that it was not as bad as we thought that it would be and that we might like to do it again next year.