Graduation

My little sister and Stu's little brother both graduated from Woods Cross High School on Friday night. It was nice to hit 2 graduations at the same time since they seem to last FOREVER. It was a delight to see them both walk and we are so proud of them both.

Stu and Trevor

My family (minus Coleman) after graduation

Me with my Leah

Another year older (Fact) Wiser?? (humm)

Well another year came by and another birthday hit. Today I celebrated another birthday. As they say "another year older and wiser"- I actually don't feel so wise, I feel like I am loosing it more now then ever before, I hope it is a phase and I am not actually getting dumber.

The day started out with a wonderful birthday breakfast made by my husband. I woke up to rain that quickly turned into snow. It has never in my knowledge snowed on my birthday, I guess there is always a first for everything. As much as I didn't want it to-the snow was putting me in a bad mood. That mood quickly evaporated when Stu surprised me with a lunch date complete with a cake he baked earlier that day that was waiting for me when we got back from lunch. All the managers and my boss sang happy birthday to me. The birthday surprise continued when I found out that Stu arranged for me to leave work early and he took me to the spa for a massage, facial and pedicure. He topped it off with a birthday dinner with friends.

What a great guy Stu is and I love him so much for remembering all the beautiful things I love and would enjoy.

See all the snow coming down?

Stu and I after my spa day, look how relaxed I look-thanks honey!

Dinner at Mukito's

East Coast Bound

Many of you know (and some of you may not) that I have a family on the East Coast. I was "adopted" into the Rodger Family about 6 years ago and Stu and I have been so lucky to go visit them once a year. Well our year mark came up and we just got back. The trip was AWESOME. So relaxing and just perfect. We ate, laid by the pool, Stu went golfing, we took road trips to Monticello and Poplar Forest, it was just perfect.

This was taken Mother's Day. There is Stu and I with Lana, Ron and Nancy

This is Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson and also on the back of a nickel. Stu waited about 20 minutes to get this picture, he wanted to get the picture with nobody around, that was hard to do since 6 school groups where there, but he did it.

Stu and I at Poplar Forest. This was Thomas Jefferson's 'other' house in Lynchburg. It was as a smaller Monticello house with similar architecture seen at Monticello.

Stu with the 'other women'. This is Lola-Lana's dog. She LOVES men and would snuggle up to Stu every time he sat down. I am pretty sure I can take her

Stu is a Scab

Stu decided to help our family earn some extra money-to do this he became a scab.

By definition a scab is: a worker that takes a striking worker's place on the job.

In Pennsylvania at Temple University Hospital their nurses went on strike. Just because nurses go on strike does not mean that people do not get sick. This hospital hired out nurses at a higher rate to come in and take care of their patients. Stu was one of them. He went to Pennsylvania for a week, working 14+ days and making $60 an hour. Although he said the work was getting easier as each day passed, he realized just how advance the hospital he works for here in Salt Lake is. The hospital in PA was "in the ice age" according to Stu. His week trip marked the 1st time we had ever been away from each other since we met. But the week flew by and knowing that his sacrifice for our family made the departure so much easier.
Thankfully Stu said he would do this again if another strike came up. He feels bad that he is 'crossing the line' but when the money is good.....

Its contagious

My big, little brother Coleman is now into running and yesterday was his 1st half marathon. Leah, Cannon and I went down to Thanksgiving Point to see him cross the finish line.
What a beautiful day it was to have a race. Coleman was hoping to come in at 1 hour 45 min. And believe it or not, he made his time. He came in at 1 hour 46 min. Lucky. I still have not broken 2 hours yet for my half marathon. It was soo good to see him cross the finish line and I am so glad we were there to support him.

Coleman's support group (Leah, Me, Cannon)
Our finisher-Coleman

The group (Cole, Cannon, Leah and me)

Racing again

I was not expecting to race this year, but since my body had other plans-I was able to race again. My first race was with my racing buddy Liz. She is trying to get into the St. George Marathon and needs to complete 2 races in St. George to qualify for the marathon. For her 2nd and last race (to qualify) asked me to join her for this 10K with her brother. Although I had not been training for any race I was more than happy to join her.

We headed down to St. George, picked up our packets and went to my G & G house for some dinner and sleep. The next day we picked up Matt and set out to Hurriance for our race. The weather was perfect and for the most part I felt good. My official time was 56:59. Not bad for my first race of the year and my fastest 10K to date.

Liz and Sarah after they picked up their packets
Race day. Don't we look like angels?? (all in white)

Matt, Liz and Sarah at the starting line

New Addition...for now

We have become a safe haven for lost dogs. About a month ago we took in a loose poodle that didn't seem to have a home. We posted signs in our condo complex and a few days later the owners came to claim the poodle. I was sad because it was right after I lost the twins and I felt like this was just something else that was taken from me. So for Valentines Day Stu said I could get another dog (a small dog) if I wanted one. I did want one..but didn't. After some further thought I decided that we were good with just Blue..until last Tuesday when Stu noticed a small chihuahua running around like a lost puppy. Stu did not bring this dog home, but the owner of the poodle that we found a few months ago did. This poodle's owner found the chihuahua and could not keep it so she was going door to door to try and find the dog's owner. I told her if she could not find the owner to bring the dog back to us. Well 20 minutes later-she did just that. Now we have this dog that we named "Touille" from the movie "Ratatouille" and as the days go on I grow more attached. I hope if this dog has(d) an owner they would come for him, but so far we are going on a week with no bites. I never ever would have pegged us for chihuahua people, but he seems to fit in quite nice with the family. So...we might have a new addition to our family-I am officially surrounded by boys!

Stu and Touille