All Systems Go

I pretty much had a minor computer heart attack a couple of days ago. I knew my system was running MUCH slower than normal. Afterall, the average life span of a computers is 2-5 years. Ours is coming up on the 5 year mark in just a few months. So, you can imagine with the MILLIONS of photos I have uploaded, videos, documents and other programs my computer was slow as molases despite the fact I had high speed internet. With that said, Taylor stuck in a photo cd Monday night and that was the icing on the cake.

Computer failure. It wouldn't reboot properly and came up in safe mode. This has happened before, but my tricks weren't working and the next message read: Hard drive not found. Ouch. I knew I was hosed. Why hadn't I backed up things or better yet hosted my photos online. Dumb, Dumb, dumb.

I had some hope and brought it into Best Buy to see what the geek squad could do. Um, they suck. They told me that my hard drive was gone and nothing was retrievable. I walked out and came to grips with my loses. Afterall I still had blogger right? Talking to a friend later that day she told me the very same thing happened to her a few months ago and referred me to the store she took her computer to.

I had nothing to loose. Carried in my beastly modem. Seriously the older computers are deadly! I explained my issues and how I had taken it to Best Buy, yada, yada, yada. Tim (the computer guy) chuckled and said, well those folks really aren't the smartest when it comes to "real" computer problems. He said give me 24 hours and I will see what I can retrieve from it and in the meantime will install a new hard drive.


Today a miracle occurred. Seriously. Tim called me and said my computer was ready and ALL my files were saved. Photos, music. EVERYTHING. I was over joyed. All I know is that I would recommend this small store to anyone in town. They didn't mess around, were reasonably priced and did the unexpected. Thank you, thank you All Systems Go! I have so much to catch up on, but for now I still have a few more programs to put back on our newly remodeled computer.

Life Doesn't Stop

Happy St. Patty's Birthday (3) Weston!

I sat and pondered about how I could recap my trip. So much occurred in such a short period of time. I thought about back logging by dates, but just couldn't find the time or energy to do so. (but still need to do that for personal reasons). My baby's 3rd birthday came and went. Spring break over. Easter gone. I sometimes feel like my life is flashing before me. I never believed my mom when she said time travels much too quickly. (And argued with her on numerous occasions about this subject matter) I am beginning to feel those pangs as my children are getting older by the second. Yes, I am still trying to recover from our 2 hour time zone change and get my groove back on. I am finding it hard to balance life right now and some how fit in my hobbies (blogging). Since we have been back I have frantically been trying to get our house ready to be placed on the market. I have been busting my tail (hence my lack of posting), and hopefully my sweat will be paying off. Photos seem to be my "easy" way of telling a story, so here it goes.....

I had the opportunity to chat with April (who is also in my inlaws ward) on two different Sundays.
I love reading her thoughts if you haven't checked out her blog you are seriously missing out!

Eating at Oreganos
Seeing how much weight Justin has lost (he looks so great!)


Going over to my best friend Courtney of 25 years home to chat.
Time may have passed, but our friendship has not.

Picking oranges at Grandma and Papa's house

Playing at Grandma Hughes' in the backyard

Grilling hot dogs with Dad C in beautiful weather


Spending time with my mom


The Easter bunny treated us well

soaking up tender moments


Realizing that trying to take photos on Easter of your kids proves to be challenging.
What is up with pirate Luke?

Is her hair really that long? Holy cow!



watching all the cousins grab over 200 eggs

Still trying to wrap my mind around buying this piece of dirt.

Celebrating our 12th Easter together, selling our first home and FINALLY moving back to our roots,
it really is surreal!

blessing: having a happy marriage

Where To Begin?

There are several titles I could have used for this post, but couldn't pin point just one. Here is just a small recap of Thursday and Friday. Thursday was spent 10 hours of traveling. As you can see Doug spent his leisure time reading and I put on my ipods to catch some sleep. You wouldn't think it would be so exhausting but it was between layovers we finally rolled into Salt Lake around 9:30pm.

First attempt on the lift--a bit scary!

Friday we got up early and headed up to Solitude to spend a day of snowboarding. We got our rental stuff squared away and were off on the first lift at 9am. Note, I had never snowboarded before, let alone knew how to maneuver such a thing. Doug decided it would be best to start off easy with a green. Wrong! It took nearly 2 hours to come down the mountain and that was NO exaggeration. I was frustrated, already sore and slid the rest of the way down the mountain on my bum. I decided to it as time to switch to ski's. I went into the rental place and the guy actually talked me out of it and suggested I take a lesson. I hesitated since it was a little pricey. But after tears and sweat I was determined not to give up. I signed up with David and it was probably the best $100 I ever spent. I went from bum sliding to at least semi staying on my board for 30 seconds.

Me and my instructor--David

Doug was obviously more advanced and took off on some other more challenging runs while I spent the day on the bunny hill. It wasn't the perfect condition of snow to learn on (I later learned). The day was clear blue skies, which also meant a little icier condition rather than nice powder. I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself that I at least stuck it out and learned something new. I definitely need A LOT of practice. I couldn't believe how much easier skiing was. Here is just a glimpse of my amateur boarding skills. I am sure Taylor has much better skills than me. Little 5 year olds were passing me by like pros.

Jenny trying to snowboard--lookout!

After a day in the snow we hooked up with our good old friends Jay and Lucy. It was so fun to catch up and spend the evening reminencing and talking with them. We then headed up to their house and while the guys stayed to play the wii, Lucy and I headed to Kneaders to meet up with some blogger girls.

I'll have to admit I get severely anxious meeting new people even though I have read and "know" them through the blogging world. It was an honor to finally meet some of these girls so many have already. I felt rather loved that these girls all came out just to meet me. It was an evening of chatting and laughing. Thanks girls, I hope to be back soon!

(Left to right)
Annalisa, Michelle, Hannah, Jill, Jana
Me, Lindsey, Amy, Lucy and Crystalyn

Switcharoo

Have we already had this car 6 months?
Where is the time going?

Due to Doug's crazy schedule and having to drive around the entire city he's lucky to find time to run errands or have leisure time. Most of the time he finds himself on his earlier days helping me out with the kids extra activities leaving little down time for him. His new car was due for an oil change and me being the EXTRA nice wife decided to do this dreadful task. I had intentions on getting it done last night. Oddly, the dealership is open until midnight here. Waaaaht? Have you ever heard of such a thing? I called to ask when the best time to come was and the reply I got was 10pm. I tried my luck last night, but the wait was still over an hour, this would put me getting home around 11:30pm. No thanks!

Cruising in the FJ

I decided to try my luck again this morning. I even woke up at the crack of dawn to get my exercise done before taking the kids to school. (I am paying for it this afternoon with a case of the yawns!) Anyways, was pleasantly surprised that there was only about a 40 minute wait. Not too shabby. Another bonus was they had a small play area for the kids (not like the Honda one) free donuts, and fountain diet coke! So, I guess my good deed wasn't too terrible after all. AND I got the chance to cruise around in the FJ all day. It's definitely a fun car to drive, but not very kid friendly. The height it makes it challenging to take the kids in and out, but my kids LOVE it. Speaking of switching.... I was so excited to switch back to my old blog style with a little added color and photo change. I decided not to use this photo (from Doug's graduation) for Christmas this year. So I thought why not use it for a header? I like the fact you can manipulate it and I didn't like all of the busy patterns going on.

Happy 7th Birthday Maci!!

good deed: took some friends dinner

Musings of the Week

It's obvious by now that I have gone to a private blog. Without going on and on about it, I just wanted to say I did it for a few reasons. First was a precautionary measure (which I already told many of you via email or phone). I haven't had a reason to worry or be concerned, but I didn't want to give anyone a reason either. Blogging has gotten much bigger than I ever dreamed. That isn't a bad thing, but more of a time issue (for me anyways). On one hand I love to read and have learned to get to know so many of you and your families. But really a person can only get to "know" so many. (I don't mean that in a snotty way) There are several of you I am comfortable with, I "know" who you are. To be honest, that was really who I expected to receive emails from. Oddly, I have gotten several people whom I have never seen or even heard of. That kinda weirded me out a bit. These individuals claim to love reading about my life and have for several months. Why in the world would you invest your free time and not even bother to email or make a comment? I will never understand. Anyways, I think I have emailed most everyone that would wonder where I was, or even care to know. Here's to a little more freedom (possibly more skin j/k) and I won't worry as much about posting about my kids schools, other friend faces, etc. Enough of that!

Luke finally "okay" after mom calmed him down

Monday I took Luke to the doctor. I have been dreading this day since he was 2. Fortunately, he is a very healthy child and I haven't had to take him in for anything other than shots. If you know Luke he is my one child who is afraid of EVERYTHING, doctors included. You would think having a dad as one would help. No such luck. I spared telling him where we were going that morning just to avoid any screaming fits. (remember the dentist visit) The cat let out of the bag when they called his name to go back into the patient room. Let me just say, I think the people across the street could have heard him screaming. I patiently grabbed his arm and held my hand over his mouth with the other hand. Meanwhile getting many looks and several gawks. He was having a major panic attack. I assured him they were just going to weigh him and look at his ears, etc. After much persuasion we calmed him down. Surprisingly, he did okay when the PA came in. He then asked if it was time to go, I informed him that "one" more guy had to come in and look at his legs. Reluctantly, he laid on the bed. His eyes got sad when he saw the three shots. It was so sad, he said "mom I am getting shots too?" I said only a couple and then you are done. He did so good, and by the end of the day he was showing everyone his "war" wounds with the band aids. I am just relieved no more shots until he turns 12! If it were any sooner, I don't know what I would do. In other news.............

About a year ago we had a huge frog (like the one above) that lived happily in our back yard. I normally move the hose, slide, etc out of the way before I mow. I knew, lets call him "Fred" lived by the hose. I made a mental note of it. I was even cautious when I came around his "home" Once I came to the spot where "Fred" lived I didn't see him, which I thought meant he went under ground. Wrongo! I ran over Fred with the mower. I was completely freaked out. Chills ran up and down my spine. I killed one of Heavenly Father's creatures. I mean this was a HUGE frog. I had to convince myself to dump the grass mixed with Fred into the trash and proceed to clean off my back window. Yes, it SPLATTERED. Sorry for the graphic image. I was labeled the frog murderer by Doug (and my kids for that matter). Well, I had forgotten about "Fred" until yesterday. I was surprised to see another relative maybe? Happily hopping around my yard. I was so amazed I had Taylor take a picture of this guy. Don't worry I didn't kill "Frank" he is still alive and well. I am hoping I can change my image of my previous murder status and keep him around a while :)

good deed Tuesday: emailed customer service and left a nice note.
good deed: Let the kids have friends over.

Jumping The Band Wagon

I've thought it over and feel it's time for me to go private as well. Please email me at this address: jumpingbandwagon@yahoo.com if you want me to add you to the list. Thanks!

Doug Returns

Yesterday my grandma and I ventured out to Scottsdale to go shopping for my birthday. (I am beginning to think my birthday is the entire month--yay for me). She always says she would much rather take me then send something in the mail. She got me stocked up on my MAC makeup and a cute outfit for church. Thanks gram!! I also managed to get Taylor some stuff for her birthday as well.

Charleston's self portrait

Doug finally made it back to Phx after a 2 hour delay and has decided that he is done with traveling for a while. (remember his last trip?) He is glad the test is over, and sadly doesn't feel any sense of relief because he won't find out the results until October. Talk about painful!! Grandma Dorothy was sweet enough to watch our kids the ENTIRE afternoon so we could have some time alone. We ended up at Charleston's for lunch and then drove around looking at houses in the Gilbert area. When we were out driving around we saw an accident right after the fact. I turned to Doug and asked if we should stop. The one guy was still in the car and so he went over to check on him. You could see the foam coming out from the airbag still. It was a head on collision (so scary). Luckily no one was seriously injured, just a little shaken up. You can kinda see the cars... (but hard because of all the firetrucks). I tried to call 911 and it rang for about 15 times and a recording came on saying call back. What?? Someone else was able to get through and the police were there in a matter of minutes.

Pecos & Higley Intersection

After driving around we headed back and the weather was surprisingly nice so I took the kids across the street to see the horses (or I think baby mule). Weston being the animal lover wanted to climb the fence and see him.

Weston talking to the horse.

Today I was able to hook up with the Zonie blogger girls. (Janae, Amy and Michelle) We met at Michelle's house and then headed over to Bajio's for lunch. Everyone was so sweet and Michelle even bought my lunch!! The great thing was you would think we would have known or met each other before. It was fun to talk and discuss who knows who, etc. Thanks ladies for a fun afternoon.

Michelle, Janae, Amy and Me

Well, I am off....we are headed out tonight with my dad and his wife Susanne for dinner. Even though we have been here for over a week I still feel like there are a few more people we want to see. Looks like this week will be just as busy as last.

good deed: stopped for a traffic accident