I feel like I haven't written in forever! Guess the most exciting thing that's happened recently is that Mike got an M-1A SOCOM 16 for Father's Day. He's wanted one his whole life and he really deserved it. We had several guns when we first got married, but he had to "sacrifice" them so we could pay our bills while he was in college. It was hard for him, but it was all we had that we could sell. So, I'd say this pretty much darn well makes up for it! (The thing was a pretty penny!)

I'm amazed at how my views on guns have changed since I met Mike. I grew up afraid of guns, I had never seen one in real life and I always associated them with "bad guys" in movies and crazed hunters and such. So, when we were first dating and he wanted to take me shooting in the foothills I was absolutely terrified. I was pretty sure that one of the guns would shoot me in the car while we were driving because we'd hit a bump or something. But after the first time I shot one I was hooked! It's now one of my favorite past times. (I particularly like shooting fruits and vegetables, stuffed Barney and scary clown toys!) I have learned to respect guns and see how they can be used to protect people and families.

There are around 60,000 reported and an estimated 1.5 million unreported cases per year of people who stopped crime through the use of firearms. That's a lot! I wish the anti-gun lobbyists would state that in all their "Guns are bad!" statistics. I'm not against them not letting psychos have guns, I think the background check is a wonderful idea, but it's not fair to take them away from the rest of us NOT crazy people. In Mexico there is a law that prohibits people from having guns. But do you think that stops the "bad guys" from getting them? HECK NO! It just makes it so the bad guys who don't follow the rules have guns and the good law abiding people have no way to protect themselves from the bad guys. I don't understand why they would want to do that here. (I get so fired up about gun control. )

One of our friends in Golden had someone try to break into their house in the middle of the night. He told his wife and kids to hide and he went and called the police. Luckily, he had an old collector's revolver (no bullets, though-but the robber didn't know!) and when the man who was breaking into the back door came in and saw the gun in our friend's hand he turned around and got the heck out of there! And guess what, the police never showed up. Now, what might have happened to him and his family if he didn't have that gun? I sure don't want to know. And it also goes to show that you can't count on police or anyone else for that matter to save your butt.

Hmmm. Well, I sure wasn't expecting my blog to turn into this! LOL. Anyway, it was a great Father's Day present, and I'm looking forward to making some big purple and green stuffed dinosaurs bite the dust. Bye-bye, Barney!

my miracle!

Here's what happened to me yesterday! I went to Sam's Club with Whitney
and Aaron for some food storage stuff and on the way out there is a woman
who marks your receipt before you leave.  For some reason (it was so
strange to watch!) She could not seem to get the marker to the paper! She
tried probably four or five times before she finally got it to work. (She
was getting pretty frustrated). I just thought, "well, that was weird..."
and headed out on my merry way. About 10 seconds later, I knew why she
couldn't get it right. That ten seconds made all the difference.

Out in front of Sam's there was a big semi-truck and some men were loading
goods onto it. I looked for cars behind it and didn't see any, so I headed
out into the parking lot. Suddenly, just as I inched out in front of the
semi, this lady in a black car goes speeding by! She had to have been going
about 40 mph. and had no intention of stopping at the crosswalk sign. (typical
Houston Texan). If we had been just a foot further into the street she would
have hit us and it would have been really bad. But, instead of me thinking "Wow,
that was close, psycho lady!" I had the strongest impression of Heavenly Father
letting me know that he had just spared us because he loved us. He just wanted
to let me know he was watching out for us! I can't imagine what would have
happened if she hit us, especially with Whitney and Aaron in the cart. It would
have been horrific. (Not to mention all that food storage gone to waste!)

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father- who even though he has starving
children in Africa to feed, soldiers in Iraq to protect, sick and weary to watch
over, and people with many more serious needs than I have- still watches over
meand my little family. Sometimes I feel so small and insignificant and I wonder
how he can possibly really know and love me. And now I feel his love so strongly
and know that I am really under his watchful eye. What a wonderful experience!

THIS IS FOR YOU, NICK AND DIANA!!!

This weekend is our 6 year anniversary! I can't believe it's been 6 years!!! Here are just a few memories of our wedding day:

On the morning of our wedding, my Aunt and Uncle (and their gazillion kids) were there and I had to wait for all of them to finish with the showers. I did my own hair as fast as I could, did my makeup in the car, and ended up being almost an hour late for my own wedding. Michael was convinced that I had chickened out! Poor guy. The temple workers were probably trying to console him before I walked in. Then, I forgot the big poofy skirt thing that goes under the dress, so my dress was all saggy. AND, I forgot my bouquet in the temple so I didn't get to use it in my pictures. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful, glorious day! As we sat in the Celestial room before we went into the Sealing room, I remember looking at Michael, all dressed in white, and I had this familiar feeling, like I could remember him from before, in another time and place. Suddenly I knew that this was truly meant to be and thinking, "we actually found eachother!". We had a wonderful Sealer and the one thing I remember him saying was that as long as we kept the Savior at the center of our marriage, everything would work out and we will be together forever! I hope we can be faithful and worthy of such a wonderful blessing.

Boy, I think it's safe to say I fell off the diet band wagon already! With company all week (they left home yesterday morning-phew!) I haven't been able to exercise (that would be a little embarrassing with 5 relatives sitting on the couch watching!) and haven't really paid attention to what I ate (okay, maybe I did pay attention, but what Dominos Pizza sounded a heck of a lot better than a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat! And who can have pizza without a big fat glass of root beer???) So now I'm totally depressed and feel fat and gross. Guess I'll try and jump back on the wagon tonight! I hope it drives by slowly....

We went to Dallas for the weekend because my cousin got married. They were an hour and a half late for their reception! It was hilarious because they said they got lost.....rrrrrrright. Those stinkers got a standing ovation at their reception when they finally showed up! It was a fun trip and I got to see some of my relatives there. Most of all I got to see my Grandma Nora. She is such an amazing woman, I am so blessed to have grandparents with whom I am so close.
Mike and I had a long talk yesterday. He was depressed because one of my cousins asked him what he liked about his job, and he couldn't think of anything that he "liked". It pays well, has good benefits, is a stable company.....but he just doesn't like it. I mean, really- who wants to sit in a cubicle for 12 hours a day checking formulas and calculations page after page after page. When he decided that he wanted to be a mechanical engineer, he thought he would be designing machines and making things, lots of hands on stuff. Not this. We sat and tried to figure out what he would want to do that he wouldn't get bored doing, and really couldn't come up with anything. I just want him to find something that he will enjoy doing. Besides that, we hate Texas. Soooooo, I think we're moving back to Colorado when his year is up here. (yaaaaay!) We decided that we are just "Colorado" people. It would be great to be closer to family again, too. Hopefully Mike can get a job with NREL again. Plus I miss my friends!!! I can't wait to see them again! I have some of the best friends on earth back there.
Texas is just funny. These people have seriously been brainwashed to believe that everything is better in Texas, everything is bigger in Texas, blah blah blah....I bought some fajita size tortillas the other day. I noticed the package said "Texas size" and guess what....I held them up to the other fajita tortillas and they were the exact same size! Then, one guy asked Mike if they had as many trucks in Colorado as they do in Texas (like having more trucks makes them better of a state) and Mike just laughed! He said that Colorado has just as many trucks, but the difference is that the trucks in Colorado usually have mud on them and have been off the pavement. (in otherwords, Coloradans actually use trucks for what they were made for!). Anyways, people here really do have a "Texas-size" attitude. Probably because they've never been outside of Texas and don't know any better. I even saw a guy with the state of Texas tattooed on his bicep! Now, you don't see guys in Colorado with a big rectangle tattooed on their arm! You don't see houses with the Colorado flag painted on their garage, you don't see Burger King signs with "try our new Colorado size deluxe cheeseburger today!". And Coloradans don't have a "Colorado Edition" Ford truck. Yes, Texas is definitely one of a kind. I'll just leave it at that!

Well, I've completed one week on the Abs diet! I can't really tell all that much of a difference, but my husband says he can. I guess that's the one that really matters. I try to watch what I eat during the day, and then after I put the kids to bed I do the weights and crunches and stuff and do a half an hour of cardio. I usually do a 5 minute warm up, then I run a mile or so and then I alternate walking and running for the rest of the time. It's supposed to burn fat faster if you keep your body guessing and change up your pace. So it's not bad at all! I thought it would be torture, but I'm finding that I really like it. I'm finding that I sleep better (because my body is actually tired!) and I feel better about myself. I can't wait to see the results after the 6 weeks are over!