WHO SAID LIFE WAS HARD?

BOY DO I know how to pick a weekend to move. Unable to get everything up the mountain because we couldnt load the back of my truck with all the rain, I thought the worst was over. Was I ever wrong! The next morning I woke up, had some breakfast and hung out with one of my best friends Cheyenne. She noticed the Uhaul attached to the back of my truck (kind of hard to miss) and told me she was not leaving until I agreed to let her help me unload. SOOOO us two girls hopped off of the couch and outside into the cold to just reverse the trailer into the driveway real quick like and unload. HOLY HECK, this is how the rest of the morning went.

900 point turn!



Chains came off......totally expected that to happen.



Cheyenne



Borrowed a pair of my moms shoes and couldnt find a matching pair to get dirty.



No mud in my truck.



Bought insurance for the dang trailer; i took total joy in thrashing it!



Glory be to us girls!



And then we couldnt get the door up and open!!!!

"END OF THE WORLD, FINALLY!"

MIKEY AND I saw this amazing cloud formation on our way to the valley from Pinedale today(Saturday). This was just outside of Payson (I need to travel more often, so much has been seen since the back and forth to Pinedale and Snowflake started). Mikey mentioned that it may be the "end of the world, finally!" Never a dull moment, let me tell you. AND, only an hour later on Bush Highway I got pulled over by a Sheriffs Deputy, DO NOT mistake him for Mesa PD(according to the cop, sorry, I mean Deputy, that would be an insult apparently). Luckily I got away with a warning, but Mikey had me laughing so hard when the 'Deputy' came back to my window to return my licence. I literally could not stop laughing. It was one of the oddest moments of my life. The 'deputy' was standing there like,.....Uhhhh, then just kept talking and let us be off. I'm surprised I didn't have to walk the line. Thankfully the law enforcing person whatever you want to call him was pretty cool; We all know it could have been worse. Again, never a dull moment. I hope it is not the "end of the world, finally" because I am having way to much fun!

INTERNET WITHDRAWLS!

SHELBY AND I are moving this weekend. I have a new job and start tomorrow. We are right in the middle of getting a new place and will probably have to stay with my mom for a week. I don't know how I went from being part of a family with no attachment to modern technology (no TV, no cell phone, no computer, nothing!) all the way up to 20. Now only 7 years later (I guess that is plenty of time) I am completely reliant on my cell phone and the Internet. I have to worry for the next 2 weeks or so about getting my online bills paid on time, not getting my "very important" emails, checking bank balances, making transactions, etc. So much for simplifying my life right now.


MY VERY FAVORITE picture of Shelby and I. (May not be blogging for awhile!)

A FEW RANDOM THINGS

I FEEL THE need to update my blog but don't have the energy to really write anything tonight. Here are just a few random pictures from the last week or two.

SHELBY GETTING A kiss from her best bud Tyler. I cant believe they are almost 2 already. Both Shelby and Tyler were born on April 18th.



PIG TAILS AT last!



DUE TO MY new lack of sentimental value placed on this tiara, Shelby took total joy in prancing around with it the other day. Go to town Shelby!



ONE OF THE beautiful plants in the sun room at Mikeys. This one reminds me of the tropical island I need to be on.....right now......No, really!....SERIOUSLY.......yesterday would have been nice!



SUNDAY NIGHT DRIVE home from Pinedale.

ODE TO MILHOUSE

SHELBY AND MILHOUSE met many months ago during her very first visit to the zoo. After a long hot day, no nap and a dusty, bumpy ride in the stroller, sweet little Shelby was in need of comfort that even her own mother could not provide. In search of air conditioning and an overwhelming urge to buy something, we headed into the gift shop on a mission to mark the very special occasion of 'baby's first trip to the zoo'. Earlier that day, Shelby (in a much more cheerful mood) showed an affinity towards the squirrel monkeys. With that in mind we perused the stuffed animals looking for any label naming the certain dirty peeing but still adorable monkey. FOUND, and never let go. Shelby had never before shown such immediate, such intense interest in anything in all her 8 months of life. Now at almost 2 years old she has yet to set him down. Poor Milhouse has been washed more than a hundred times, has seen the floor of Walmart on countless occasions, has shared in a million messy mealtimes and has even taken a few baths with Shelby because of my inability to break her heart and take him away from her for a full 20 minutes. Shelby and Milhouse have a very special relationship and I have a feeling he will sit on the bed (or at least in the closet) belonging to her own child.

MY BROTHER - IN LOVE!

I JUST HAD to put something up about my brother. He is by far one of my best friends and my only sibling, which makes him so so special to me. This picture is of him and his AWESOME girlfriend Shelley at Christmas. We all love her to pieces and are so glad they are together. MICHAEL + SHELLEY = LOVE

NO "WEAK"END!

FROM BEGINNING TO end this last weekend spent in Show Low was anything but dull. We will start off slow! On the way up I finally stopped and took a picture of this saguaro cactus I have always loved. It looks like no other dying cactus I have ever seen. To me this old guy died and only became stronger. Some a little more spiritually sensitive might think otherwise but my imagination finds beauty in this devilish horned creature rising from the dirt; strong and dark it has been there forever seeming to only tower larger and higher with each chunk of rotten flesh falling to the ground.



AFTER A NOT so long day of apartment hunting, Summer, Moriah and I got together at Sum's for a gool'ol fashioned slumber party. With husbands out of town, we ordered a veggie pizza (hold the olives and tomatoes add pineapple and light on the sauce with, hallelujah - ONIONS because David was gone!), ate chocolate and talked until one in the morning about things no one, and I mean NO ONE should ever hear unless you are one of the three of us. We, I should say summer built us a fire and much to her dismay (but lucky for me), there was no kindling left. Summer had to go in the garage, hatchet in hand and do some chopping. Talk about a KODAK moment!



SWEET LITTLE HOLDEN got himself a package in the mail that evening. It was what I believe to be a right of passage for some little "dudes". A Bengals football uniform that will surely rival that of his cousin Brecks Cardinal one. My little brother had a Miami Dolphins one and if I remember the conversation correctly, David, Summers husband had one as well (probably not the only Williams brother to sport one). With the amount of time I have seen those boys wearing those helmets I cant figure out if the chance of injury would decrease because of the extra protection or increase because of the extra tackles!



THE NEXT DAY, Mikey and I 4x4ed our way up to Juniper Ridge look out tower. It was windy, beautiful, romantic, and FREEZING cold. I loved every minute of it.



ANOTHER NOTABLE ADVENTURE was the critter list put together over the three days. Mikey and I saw a raccoon and a bald eagle(the good eye award actually goes to Mikey, he needs a few points because I repeatedly kick his butt in darts and cornhole which he has dubbed me the cornhole world series champion, a title I will proudly keep!) and I saw deer and a skunk on my way home. Always amazing to me.

LONG CHAPTERS END

MOVING ON MEANS leaving things behind, sometimes that is not so easy. This year has been full of the closing and opening of chapters. Moving back up north means after 7 long years at work in the Emergency Department at Banner Gateway, before that Banner Mesa AND before that Mesa Lutheran Hospital(that right there should tell you how long I have worked there), I worked my last shift last night. My one constant, my Mesa family, basically everything I have known since I was 19 and fresh out of high school. Thankfully alone I cleaned out my locker, balled my eyes out and went home after an emotionally draining shift. Here is to them, my "people" who work their you know whats off to the bone for 12 hours at night, risking exposure which translates into risking their lives for others, only sitting down to document their work. Hear is to 4am conversations that would terrify any layman. Here is to 11 of us doctors, nurses and technicians all pregnant at the same time, to "playing with pee", and to my very last task before I left - counting the respirations of a beautiful new born baby boy(kind of ironic). And the chapter closes.

TIME TRAVEL

IN PINEDALE OVER the New Years weekend, Shelby and I went to visit Amy (Bryant) Perkins. I never thought it would be possible to say this but J.B. her horse, older than our 22 years of friendship is still alive and kicking. Being in Pinedale around Amy and that good'ol boy(now 27) at the same time is like being transported back in time, 6 years old running horses, riding bikes - Amy on the cool purple BMX and me of course on the lame pink banana seat pretending to pull up to the gas station(my front porch) in our "convertables". Here is to Pinedale, J.B., Amy and the first time I ever realized friendship is something to value, actually the first time I realized anything about anything.

LITTLE OBSERVATIONS

AFTER ALL THE time spent with the Williams family I guess it would only be fitting to write a little something about this beautifully complex clan. The most recent event was sweet little baby Merriks blessing, regrettably unable to go, there is still something to be said about this child. He is SO GOOD, and quite possibly the most stunningly angelic baby boy I have ever seen, only to be rivaled by his older brother Breck who is also one of the most well behaved, well taught and most coordinated kids ever! Both boys lucky to have a mother like they do. Jes makes having a new born look flawlessly simple. She is gentle, patient and so caring. Time spent with them is an amiable mix of calming entertainment.

NEW YEARS INDEPENDENCE DAY!

WITH WARM NOSTALGIC thoughts from my more formative years, Mikey Williams and I ran around, nose and ears burning from the sting of 20 degree weather at one in the morning on New Years day setting off firecrackers trying our best to plague the Pinedale community(especially Marty, seemingly sound asleep and hopefully Charlie Brown!). Definitely one for the books!