Time for a change of scenery....

After six years at Jones Farms I'm hitting the road. I gave my notice to them and the Retreat two weeks ago.  I have been keeping busy trying to get everything in order to leave Jones Farms for good and it has been a crazy last couple of weeks.  

Although I'm nervous because I'm leaving what has been my normal for the past 6 years, I think the opportunity is going to be something that I will be glad I took.  I am looking forward to more and better benefits, continuing to be around an agriculture based business, a shorter drive to work (it will be totally awesome if we ever move outside of Paul), and learning a new job.  Here's to Monday and my first day at my new job! 

Big Brother

I recently found out that I'm going to be an AUNT again!

 

 

Liam broke the news to me on a lunch date with Grandma Ginny, Lacey, and his parents. I am hoping for a girl to totally turn tom-boy but my bets are on another cute little boy, which is totally ok considering Liam is a pretty cool kid. :) I am excited for the next few months because we are expecting a couple new ones in the family. Blu & Jenna are expecting their first at the end of June (GIRL) and this little one will be showing face in November.

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Went to The Chadwick's for dinner.

Green beers & hats.

Drinks on the second floor.

Spent the rest of the evening at the Skyline.

:)

New Couches

We have been considering buying a couch for about two years now.  We found one we like here in town but the price was so high for a leather reclining one so we have always held off.  When we were in Utah earliar this year we went to Furniture Row with Ashley. It's down by Ikea and Ashley Furniture so the prices are real competitive.  We found one we liked and went home that weekend wishing we would have bought it.  So the next weekend we set out for Idaho Falls where the closest Furniture Row store is.  We took our price quote there and got the same couches for much less than what they were selling them for at that store. We ended up getting a couch and loveseat both with recliners for less than what just the couch we had looked at in Burley costed.  We felt that it was a good deal and we love them!

Girls trip to Utah

Friday, February 24th, Lacey and I took off work early and headed to Utah to see Ash.  Lacey had never seen Bryce and Ashley's new house so we decided we would stay there for the night.  We hung out that afternoon and went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  Liam made friends with the waitress, she said many times "I'm in love with this child".  He was so good and so friendly the whole time.  After dinner we took Bryce and Liam back to the house and we left for a couple of hours.  We went to Jamba Juice, which is all us girl's favorite!  (Funny thing I want to remember:  While we were there Lacey mentioned how her body is so achy and she decided she had the osteoporosis.  We called her a dumb ass and laughed our asses off).  Then we drove all around Salt Lake jamming out to music and talking.

The next day we spent the morning getting ready and hanging out with Liam.  We went to In N' Out Burger with everyone.  Then we again dropped off Bryce and Liam and headed to Park City.  It was snowing pretty good up there so we shopped the outlet malls for an hour or so and then headed back to the bigger malls back in Salt Lake.  We shopped til we were so worn out.  Surprisingly I didn't find anything I wanted to buy.  Lacey found a funny shirt for St. Patrick's Day and Ashley found a pair of jeans and a cute shirt for a steal of a deal. 

We came back that night and it was sad to leave.  We had so much fun just us three girls!  We will definitely plan another trip this summer!

Tom's Day

We had Uncle Tom funeral on February 18th.  It was a nice service at the Rupert Methodist Church that Gram put together.  She did the obituary also and it mentioned how he especially loved spending time with his nieces and nephew (Lacey, Ashley, Blu, and myself).  That was my favorite part.  There was a church full and it was nice to see all the friends and family that care about Tom so much.  The morning of the service Ashley, Bryce, Liam, Lacey, and I met at Grams house and we went over to the church together.  Scotty and Tarbet left fire academy for the service and met us there.  A friend of Tom's came up to Gram that morning and asked if he could read a poem that he had wrote for Tom.  Not knowing what it was I was a little worried, but when he read it that is what got me.  It was so special and so Tom.  He did a great job writing it and I went up to him after and told him how wonderful that was and that I appreciated him for taking the time to do that.  He said to thank God for it.  :)  We then went to the cemetery out by the farm and had a small service and prayer.  Lacey had mentioned that she wished Tom was being buried by Kristi because they were always so close and raised hell together.  I told her maybe that's why Grandma chose to have him buried next to Grandpa, so he could oversee the two of them.  Ha ha!  It's hard going out to the cemetery, but also nice to see that the family is all together and out by the farm.  It's beautiful out there.

The ladies at the church made a wonderful meal and we all enjoyed each others company for a few more hours, then we went back to Grams house.  Although the occasion was not a reason I would wish for us to come together, it was also a blessing because we were all together.  Rocky and Cody, Mike and Suzanne, Natalie, and another cousin came from Arizona and California.  Mom was able to come and even came back to Grams house for some good talks and laughs.  We were all together and having a good time, the way Tom would like it.  It was a special day.  I sure miss Tom, I always have since he moved away years ago, and I sure will miss our crazy conversations over the phone.  Love you Uncle Tom!

Down & Out in Las Vegas, NV

The day after New Years, Tarbet had to go to Vegas for Valley Service School.  We have been wanting to go on vacation with our friends and they had decided on Vegas, so we decided this was the time to go.

Thursday morning, I took my two boys to the baby sitters house.  It was hard to leave them considering I have never left them for more than 2 nights before.  I had talked it over with them :) and they knew what was going on.  Once we got there and checked them in, Aunt Kara walked in and they rushed right over to her.  That made me feel much better that they recognized her and were super excited.  So they went with her and I made my way to meet up with the crew.  Kirby, Lindsey, Boda, and I all loaded up in Lindsey's new car and we hit the road!

We made a pretty fast trip only stopping 3 times and making it in just under 8.5 hours the Utah way.  As we were trying to find parking at the Mandalay Bay, Tarbet drove by in a taxi.  We were directed to a parking garage which was hard to follow and we ended up going the wrong way down a one-way-only exit, eventually said screw it, swung into a spot and called it good.  Seriously the car ride to Vegas was such a good time by itself!  We got all checked in and met up with Cory and Jocelyn Webb, who flew in a little earlier.  It was so exciting to be there with all of our friends!

That night we hung out with a few other Sprinkler Shop guys who were leaving in the morning.  We walked around New York, New York, ate some food, and played in the arcade.  Tarbet kept catching these bouncy balls in one of the machines and at one time probably had 10+.  They started handing them out to kids.

We're set for a little stroll on the Strip

The boys even enjoy shopping in Vegas!

The next day Boda, Tarbet and I located a Subway down the road which we ate at numerous times while we were there, including one 4:30 AM taxi ride trip. :)  Once everyone was ready, we went down to the Boot Barn.  I had been telling Tarbet how awesome this place was and that he should save his money and look for a pair of boots there.  Seriously walls and walls of boots, which if you're anything like us, you are in heaven!  He picked out a nice pair of Ariat square-toes with bright green on top.  The rest of that day we walked around the strip.  On our way back up to the room that evening, some guys gave us a card to get in free to a nightclub in our hotel.  Kirby, Lindsey, Boda, Tarbet, and I decided to check it out.  It was called the Foundation Room and it was on the top floors of the Mandalay Bay.  It was pretty neat when you got up there because you were allowed out on the balconies which overlooked the whole strip.  We stayed there until the wee hours of the morning and had a blast, so much so that we decided to go again the next night.

The view from the Foundation Room

This was such a fun night!

Boda picking up cuties!

Our hotel had a Shark Reef Aquarium in it also, so on Saturday we all went and checked that out.

HUGE blue fish

A tunnel you walked through where you could see all the sharks

They had sting rays that you could pet

We didn't do any gambling until Sunday when Kirby found this fun game where he kept winning pretty good money.  It kinda sucked us all in and we played at those games for 3 hours until we all lost the money we had made, but it sure was fun. 

Taking in the view

The whole trip was such a good time! I think we were all ready to come home but sad at the same time because we don't know when the next time will be that we can all get together and go somewhere again.  I'm so glad that we decided to go and make it happen though and we will always remember the good times we had!  UNTIL NEXT TIME!