Look but no touchy...

This is Him, in all his glory. My main squeeze and a dang cute little girl. He still gives me chills when we kiss: I've got it bad for this one. Heaven sent my Derrek!

The life...

So I love these emails. I more wanted to put them on a blog so I would have record of them. What are they you ask? Well, Joshy my dear nephew, got a package from his Aunty. This is his response to the package. It made me giggle, and in fact it was a reminder that he's still Joshy... and rock star at that.

"loved it all. I acted out a nephite lamanite battle for comp study with the army men.
I got all three elders with the whoopy cushion. I'm wearing the shorts and shirt. I shot the noise balloons at the other companions last night after lights out and made them scream like girls. Great package. Thank you. Plus I have eaten a few of the ramen packages and plan to eat one in an hour.

I do like the ties alot. Elder Good actually made fun of the pink tie. and then i pulled out my other 7 pink ties and he felt kinda lame. he's all "ohhh.... your one of those pink dudes" like it was supposed to be an insult. I'm like "yeah man, that is where it is at and don't you forget it."

Isn't that great? I love it. The next best thing would be getting pictures... Something is wrong with Boy missionaries. We get like NO pictures. LAME.

Also,

This last weekend was the extended Butler Family reunion. The Butlers (William Ray) was in charge of the reunion this year. It's been fun for me to get re-acquainted with the cousins that I never knew. Interesting to say the least. There are pictures on Face book of the activity, so super fun. Derrek's family had baptisms that day so I didn't think he'd be able to make it since the baptisms were in South Jordan and the reunion in Spring Lake.

HOWEVER, I was sitting talking to my mom, and I see this car the kids are nailing with water balloons. I was making fun of it, then I realize it's my boyfriend. He drove right in the middle of a hornets nest of water balloons. Pretty fun, and awesome surprise. Again, how did I get so lucky?

MY FAmily ROCks. I was reminded of this. Derrek and I had so much to do. Friday I went and picked him up from work so we could get his Drivers license, after that we hit up the bank before the weekend, then I got a text mom and dad, ted and mike were all meeting for dinner. So we met up for dinner. Derrek and I had gotten horribly sick from that buffet before so we watched while others ate. Mom and Dad ran into old family friends- the Dennis's- they lived in Bakersfield long ago, and are now living in Kaysville, ut. They sat and ate dinner- fun to see my parents excited to see old Friends and fun to hear the stories.

After dinner Derrek and I got him packed up, and also grabbed all the stuff we needed and headed out to my parents house. We got out there at 10 pm (holy) and ended up with alot to do. Mike and my dad was All over it.

Mike and dad made Pink and blue rice crispy treats, I topped them off with sprinkles, Derrek helped with the Butler Reunion Sign, and helped me glue the huge pictures of the ansectors on poster boards for different games I wanted to do like- pin the hair on the ancestor.

After all the hard work, we Heated up some poppers, chips and dip and we played our selves some Farkle Until about 1 am.

Gosh Dang how on earth did I get so dang LUCKY.

Grateful:

#1 Diet Dr. Pepper. I'm very grateful for the sugar free drink so I can partake with out worrying about the Yeast issues.

#2 Aloe. Thank you Earth. Between tanning, and Kayaking Aloe= Awesome.

#3 Food coloring. We got some for the rice crispy treats Derrek needed for the baptism. So of course we had green lemon bars, and I'm so excited about the colorful opportunities that maybe at hand.

#4 Wipe off markers. In our house we use the white board wipe off markers to write notes for each other. The mirrors work perfectly. It's always fun to find notes in the rest room mirrors, etc. I love me My MAL.

#5 Red Box. How's that for easy and cheap when it comes to date night? Saturday night we enjoyed 2 movies for 2 dollars. Shout OUT. Can't compare when the theatre tickets are like 17.50$ for the 2 of us. Screw that! "lets just wait for reb box"

Life= awesome. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Life is good!

Wed!!!

Doesn't happen very often, so are you ready? I'm bored at work. Can you believe it?

One more day of the week, one more...

Lets start with graditude.

#1 My fun/ cute new under shirts with lace on the bottom. I love love them.

#2 My date night with Zach!!! I got to buy the books I've been wanting to read. They are laced with all kinds of war stories, and tragitys, BUT always triumph.

#3 Flat shoes. Comfy! Perfect for work.

#4 Toe nail polish. Fun! I didn't wear it for a couple weeks... took a "break" and when I put it back on I realized how much I love it.

#5 Mal's trash. She was going to throw out like 2 bags of clothes. Turns out some of them totally work as work clothes ( I truly don't care what I look like at work but they are cute)

A few Fun Photos of LIfe.

Enough is Enough! I need to take time and be oh- so grateful. My life is so incredibly blessed that I am going to chose to take a couple free minutes and express some serious graditude.

My life is so awesome.

My sisters. My 2 sisters who live in Ohio (I still think that is so random!) I adore them so much. I need to be better to them. My dear Lindy Loo has had trail after trial in this last little bit. She moved from OK, to Ohio, she had twins 2 weeks before the move. That’s enough to send me over the edge (let alone the birth story). THEN, they couldn’t find a house so her and her 5 kids and hubby are living in a hotel. Her Hubby starts a new job (shout out), and the ac in the hotel goes out! My sister gets a kidney infection and is hospitalized. My other sister takes her 3 kids to the hotel to help with the other 5 kids. That’s a total of 8 Children in 1 hotel room. And I’m not helping anyone cause I’m playing gaga games in Utah (time off work is a whole other issue). Then after all this her little boys eyes start crossing. My niece Abby had eye crossing issues and many surgeries followed the crossing. This is when they lived out in Houston, and I usually made it to the surgeries. Now, being an adult and having a job it pains me that I can’t be there for little Alex. Growing up SUCKS.

What would I do if I had a million dollars? I’d fly to Ohio and watch my sisters babies so she could have a nap. Literally, that’s what I would do. THEN, I would go to my other friends house and help babysit, and then I would go to my other friends house and sit with her while she recovers, THEN I’d fly to Ecuador and give my nephew a big wet kiss (on the cheek-y)… So much to do, and so little resources to do it with.

I have the best boyfriend; so cute, so fun, so just right for me. A year ago today I would not have believed if someone would have told me the greatness I would be in a relationship with. He is a giant, and “wise beyond his years.” We’ve got issues, but I’d say we are a winning team and more than 90% of the time we are apart I just want to be with him. I’d say those are pretty good numbers.

I have such good friends. Seriously good friends. Let’s say Mal in specific and a few other Shout outs. It’s tough when life changes and things are unexpected. Adjustments are hard. I’m grateful for friends who believe and have the faith that I do, it makes changes easier, and the common goal clear. I love them, regaurdless of the time I can invest in them.

Which brings me to my next point. I LOVE LOVE my Long – far away friends. Amanada, Lind’s, Virg. All of whom I need to be better to. Amanda, who just had surgery, Lind’s who just had twins, and Virg who had a baby also. These friends of mine always focus the conversation on me and continually give to me emotionally. It’s like my own fountain of endless support. I love that there are people you can walk away from and not see for literally years, but for some reason when you see each other, it’s like no time passed.

And then, My nephews. My perfect, sweet, angel boys of nephews. They make my Mondays worth living… Jason doesn’t have as much time to email as Josh, and we’ve had some intimate emails that I adore. He is truly being Shaped and formed to what the lord would have him become. It’s fun to watch, but at the same time any one who has been shaped and formed knows its painful and really hard. It’s hard to watch. I can’t imagine how Heavenly Father feels. Horrible, helpless, but excited feeling all at the same time.

All of these would- haves and should haves between the BBq’s with mister perfection and family stuff, and days with the nieces, and and and. Seems like it’s never ending. I sometimes feel so torn with all the should be’s that need to get done. I’m pretty sure it’s pretty normal to feel like that, however doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve ordered a Covey refill to some how soften the blow of craziness. Heaven bless Steven for his awesome invention.

PS. Pictures are to come... Derrek has the camera!

Grateful Again.

I feel like life these days is one big blur of packing for Salt Lake for the weekend then work monday morning, then Driving to SLC again on Thursday with some customers between the time. Holy blur. Last weekend derrek's work had a big race and it was alot of fun to go see him in his element and be introduced to a whole new world of racing and stuff I haven't really known too much about. As you can see in the photo's below, we went go karting, hung out at the museum, and watched the races... All in all a good time by everyone. Derrek's birthday was on Tuesday so it was fun for me to get to see him during the week. We went out to dinner, drove around looking at houses (the houses in Down town are awesome) went to get some cards for some serious Rummy, and then a knock at his door. The knock was his dad and the night ended with some chatting by his father. Derrek seemed to like his gifts, although he is not the excited type- I'd rather some one jump around happy, and he did not do that, but none the less a great evening with my BF. (still weird to say) Derrek is rad!

I had a few experiences this week that made me so grateful. each of these experiences I'm going to share will count as my grateful lists... I hope thats ok with everyone.

#1 I have made it my goal to thank every veteran that sits at my desk. Not an easy task because they are usually Felons, toothless, or currently drunk as I stumble through what I can do to help them. As bad as it sounds, I have become numb to people and their issues-in my work you have to detach at some point or you'll go crazy. So I had this one specific Veteran at my desk that I decided to be nice to and bend over backwards to help- this is a new thing for me. As he stood up to leave I looked him in his eye and thanked him for his service. He pulled back his sleeves from his shirt and said to me "I'd do it again." I was especially touched when I looked down to his arms where he had pulled his sleeves back, and they were covered with scars from burns, clearly this guy has been through some serious wounds.
I thought about that, and got emotional. The Hero's of my day are literally sitting in front of me at my desk, or are all around me... how grateful I am for men and women who do the ultimate, and sacrifice for me. That's a Christ like attribute that I reverence, rather, I am learning to reverence.

#2 I deeply miss my sisters and their kids. This I am grateful for this feeling. If you are anyone in my family I have always been a little removed and wanting to live far away from them. I have always wanted to live on the east coast, but right now it wouldn't matter where we lived. I just want my sisters. I feel home sick, but really its sister sick. I want the feeling thats usually at christmas. Everyone sitting around talking, and teasing the kids. With the Twins here, and my other sister at girls camp, and then another sister across the States- far far away, I'm feeling a whole in my heart. i've turned in to a girl that would live on the same street as my sisters... I'm some one I've always made fun of.

This is all I have time for now, however I am a frequent blogger. I love you all...

SO Grateful.