Disney Magic

My parents, my sister, my nephew,my husband and I all went to Disneyworld this last fall! I'm a little behind, but better late than never! Didn't want to loose these pictures and have them stuck in the SD card forever! :) We were there for a total of 5 days, and managed to hit all four parks!!! Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Universal Studios, and Hollywood Studios. All of the parks were amazing! Magic Kingdom was a MUST DO...since that is where the history of Disney begins! When we went to Epcot, it was during the food festival...which was awesome! Every hundred feet there was another booth of little taste testings of foods from countries all around the world. We ate SOOO much food from France, Sweden, Spain, The Netherlands, and much more! Universal Studios had some great rides, and Hollywood...well, that one was our least favorite. (IF we had to pick one.) We also got about an hour to go to Animal Kingdom...and had the chance to ride just the biggest rides there. :) My mom had foot surgery just about 5 weeks before, so unfortunatly, she couldn't walk very easily around the parks, but LUCKILY...we all got to go to the front of every ride! Yep...no lines!!! Which, made the trip even more amazing, because we didn't have to stress about long lines!! Woo hoo! :) (Really, the only way to go!) Might I add, my mom rode Space Mountain...and my dad rode every rollar coster!!! So fun!


Getting Ready to hit Magic Kingdom with our matching shirts :)




Not sure what I'm doing with my leg...








I have a picture of my dad and I riding "Dumbo" at Disneyland when I was four...thought this would look good next to it! :)




Dad..I thought you were part of the horse...haha


Us girls...


...and the boys. haha.


Riding Peter Pan


Mom and Dad with Todd


We end the day with the Main Street Parade


Epcot!


Supporting our Rangers during the World Series


The Gypsy stop..with a little dress up! Belly dancing lessons and all! Ha!


My cute little nephew! He LOVED the vacation.


Well said! So tired after days of walking in circles!


So cold that day, and rode 2 water rides. FREEZING!

QUILTING!!!

I'm so excited that I can finally show my quilting adventure that I've had the last four months! I decided to make a king-size quilt for my mom, for Christmas. Let's just say, I found a new hobby! I LOVE quilting. It's one of those projects you can work on for hours, minutes, days, or whatever you have time for, set it aside and know exactly what to do when you pick it back up. My advice: Pace yourself! All you really need is a quilt design/pattern that you like, basic sewing skills, a rotary blade with a cutting mat, access to a quilting machine, and your favorite fabrics! This project took a lot of patience, because it IS such a huge quilt that I had to do a lot of little things OVER and over again. Cutting, cutting, ironing, ironing. I never realized how much you have to iron when you quilt, or sew anything for that matter. It really makes your project more crisp. I felt like a quilt was appropriate for my mom since I know it's something she will treasure, and something I can have part of my family forever! Knowing that someday my grandchildren will have it, will make the memory of my mother (who taught me how to sew) last forever. I love you Mom! Oh..and P.S...for a little project in between I made a rag quilt, which is the black patch blanket, with the pink back. That is an easy one day project, let me know if you want the instructions! (I love super Saturday's!)



Just Getting Started! First, you have to make sure you pre-wash the fabric, then start cutting rows of blocks, to start making a 9-block patch quilt.


I'm always in my pajamas! haha. Quilting is a perfect excuse to get comfy all day!!!


Time to get the batting, since the front is COMPLETELY DONE!














Here is a video of my mom opening her gift... :) I can't wait to make my next quilt! :)

July 4th Celebrations

Rich and I got our share of 4th of July Fireworks! Starting the week before in my hometown of Allen, then shooting off some of our own, and then watching our neighbors shows from our rooftop.

Although all of the shows turned out to be fun, spectacular, and patriotic...one of them was far better than the rest.

Rich and I have been excited about putting on a "Fourth Firework" show since the day we bought our house. We found out we lived within the county lines, not the city. Which meant, we had no firework restrictions!! So we took advice from the Firework salesman on what fireworks were the best. Now, out here in Lindale...a lot of people buy thousands of dollars worth of fireworks, and there is a lot of country season pro's. I don't think the salesman knew we didn't have a lot of land, or a lot of experience to work with. We told him we wanted one box of "a grand finale". Well, by the looks on some of these faces, you can tell, it was QUITE the FINALE! I even restrained posting some of the crazy pics, out of respect. Haha. :) The fireworks were huge! The box lasted for a couple minutes, and the wholetime, they were leveled out with our rooftop. We may reconsider where we shoot them off next year.

All in all, it what was a great 4th of July week. Great company. Great memories.




Our newest member of our family. We found out, she, is now a he. But we are keeping the name still as Zoey! He likes to lay in the sink and watch me get ready in the morning. I know, spoiled, weird, and wrong...but so CUTE!














Rich picking out potatoes from our garden!! Yummy potatoe salad! :)














My cute nephew, Todd. Valerie and I hung out at the mall, and I took him on his first Carasole ride.


















Starting the celebrations! Heather's family and our friends, Tammy and Tyler.

Our Home in Lindale

We moved to Lindale Texas (East of Dallas) this last December. We ABSOLUTLY love it here!!! It is definitly more "country" than living in North Dallas.

I got my first Reporting position at ABC 7, KLTV, in Tyler Texas. I signed a two year contract, so we will definitly live here for the next year and a half. Our first six months here in Lindale have been great so far.

I love what I do as a reporter with KLTV. I get to meet a variety of people, report on a variety of stories, and continue my education in ALL subjects of the law, medicine, business, ect.

Richard travels to Dallas twice a week to check in for work, and go to weekly meetings...than he works from home the other three days. Working from home in our HOME versus a little small basement in Utah, makes a huge difference. :)



Our first home!!! We love it so much!!! Richard and I looked at dozens of homes, and we didn't like any of them. We KNEW this was the one the second we pulled up.









With some actual working space, Richard dove right into building us some new furniture.













Final product! Bookshelf!!! My hubby has talent.












This is where I work!!! I was reporting/anchoring that night during the Miranda Lambert concert. She is from our small town of Lindale.









Going back home to Allen! We ran in the Allen 5K race with my family. This is my awesome, almost 12 year old, nephew, Jeffrey! :)









Kuuipo, Tammy, and I ran the Cowtown ULTRA marathon! Whew....a couple months later, I'm considering MAYBE doing another one. :)








We decided to build a garden in our backyard. So far, we have planted onions, garlic, peppers, lettuce, potatoes,cherry tree, peach tree, and strawberries.









We will keep you posted on how everything tastes. :)










Playing co-ed softball with my KLTV team!








Our newest member of our family. Zoey. We found her at just 4 weeks old, behind one of our trees. We are so excited to have a kitten. (ps. She went into the vet with me sitting on my shoulder, and stayed their all the way home!)







For the last re-cap picture....here are my amazing seminary students this year. I absolutly loved teaching seminary this past semester, and hope to teach next year too!