Moved....bitter sweet

 Well, we have officiall moved from Arcata, which is totally bitter sweet for me.  I loved the area there! One of the prettiest places I've ever been to!  I'm going to miss the horse riding and the ocean and the mountains, and the greenery and the flowers!  Just amazing!  But, I will NOT miss our apartments :)  They were just fine, but thats all I would say is fine. LOL.  It's nice having apartments like that because then you REALLY appreciate good ones when you get them :)  The picture above is on our move, the scenery that we left behind. 

 On the way from Arcata to Redding through the mountain pass, its seriously is one of the longest mountain passes ever! But very beautiful.  It was a lot more green when we went throug it two months ago, but it's still pretty.  And it has an amazing fishing river that runs through it.  Kade wanted to stop and fish sooooo bad :)

 This picture is for my dad.  This was a little town that we passed through and of course there is a lot of logging that takes place here, so I know he is going to find this HUGE pile of logs interesting.

 Our new home!  We totally lucked out and got the apartment that overlooks the pool.  We can go out onto our balcony from our bedroom or from the living room.  I really like the floor plans of these apartments, very well thought out. 

 I'm loving my new kitchen since I have more than one droor now:)

 My beautiful niece came to visit me!!!!!! I love her to death! I wish she could live out here with me! We would have a blast, just like we are now!  I don't want her to leave......  We had just worked out in the fitness center here at our apartments and we decided that a little dip in the hot tub would be nice!

 Do you think this cat was risking one of his nine lives by drinking chlorinated water????  Meow!

 Pool time with CASS!!

 OK, so she's probabley not out here JUST for me.....hehe!  I think Aaron only has a little bit to do with it! :)

 While the boys are out working we go exploring....and sometimes get lost!, and we found ourselves at the "not so great" part of Bidwell Park.  This was called horseshoe lake, and its more like a puddle! haha!!!  But still fun to see somewhere new! 

 Now we found the real lake!!! Lake Oroville is BEAUTIFUL!  There are tons of house boats that sit, waiting for someone to vacation on them, and there was a fun bridge that we had to drive over, which I'm sure is going to be put to shame by the bridges in San Fransico this Sunday.  (Thats the plan to go to San Fransico, so hopefully it all works out:)

 This day was such a fun day! I don't know what got into us girls but we were just silly all day! Everything was funny! You know those moods that just randomly hit and you can't seem to get out of them:)  This was one of those days.  And the sun was really in our eyes in the picture!

 You all know that I love scenery! So here's another scenery picture!

 So this little guy started all the laughing for the day!  We were taking a walk by the lake, and ran into him, (we will call him Buff....I'll explain in a sec) and he was startled by us, and ran like the wind.  But he stopped and starred us down, and then he started doing push-ups for a long time! hahahahahahaha!  We where laughing so hard!  Thats why we called him Buff.  I think he was trying to impress us! LOL  We came home and told Kade and he said,"Oh yeah, havne't you seen that before?" He said he used to catch lizzards all the time and has seen them do that.  But it was still super funny!

Such a beautiful lake!  Wish I had a houseboat, and a speed boat, and some jet skiis, and a big nice truck, and fishing stuff, tubes, lots of BBQ food, wake board, scubba gear, and..................:) You get the idea :)  

Happy Anniversary!

 I guess I should say Happy Early Anniversary!  Our anniversary isn't for 3 more days, but we are moving on Sunday, so this is an early anniversary celebration.  I had been wanting to take Kade horse riding on the beach for our anniversary, and thanks to my new friend Kristi that I met out here, we were able to do that.  It was crazy how it all played out though, she called me and asked if I wanted to go get out on the horses one more time before we moved and I told her that I would love that, she then asked me if Kade would like to come and ride with me! I was totally excited!  And I was thinking in my head that it would be amazing for him to just get on the horse for a second and ride and then we would be done, but she told us to go down to Moonstone beach (took about an hour down and back).   I didn't say anything to her about our anniversary when she asked me if he wanted to come, it just ended up playing out that way.  I'm truly grateful for wonderful people like her!

Happy Happy Anniversary Kade Buggers!  I love you more than you'll probably ever know!  I love spending my life with you each and everyday.  We are a great team and that team just keeps building and getting stronger every day!  I'm so glad that we have the gospel in our lives and that our relationship is built upon those principles.  Life is so meaningful and has such a wonderful plan to it, and I'm grateful to be sharing that plan with you! 

 We had a fun ride, down (to Moonstone beach) and back.  My horse decided that he needed to "go", so thats why I'm laughing and thats why he has a crazy, stretched out stance :)

 Kristi and Aaron were walking around on the beach trying to find sand dollars while Kade and I were out on our ride, and when we got back, Aaron had my camera and started to snap away!  The humidity killed my hair too(Frizzy), I had straightened it in the morning, but that was worthless! But hey, its not about how we look, its about the FUN!!!!! Right!!!!!??? 

 Its been fun getting to know the horses personalities.  Kade's horse (the one that I have ridden a couple times) likes to do some crow-hops! haha!  Its actually kinda fun cause he means nothing by them, he's just feeling good :)  Kade liked the horse (Shane) alot, because he was so silly and fun. The horse that I was on (Jed) was a fast walker, he likes to get out and move, so it makes Shane have to trot to catch up sometimes.  hehe.  We galloped a little while we were out alone and that was a blast.  Kade would look at me and try to hold my hand to "play up" the romanticness of a "Horse ride on the beach!"  haha! Thats why I love this boy!  The horses really like the water, and Kade's horse always wants to take a sip, but then is remided that its not drinkable!  

I'm so thankful to have had this experience, and to have shared it with my best friend! I think this makes the top anniversary yet!   I love you Kade-O!  Happy 7th Anniversary!  I'm excited for more to come! (And thankyou Kristi for making it happen!)

New Family Pics

 Today we went and took family pictures! I have a good friend that we trade doing pictures each year, and its kind of becoming a tradition! Which I totally love!  Its like having my own private photographer :)  These were my favorite shots.   Thanks so much Nancy your the best!!!

Happy Memorial Day

 I just wanted to say Happy Memorial Day to all!  I am extremely blessed in my life! I have so many blessings that counting them would be an absolutely impossible task! I'm so greatful to have grown up in a home where I learned about the reality of war and what it can do to families.  I'm grateful to have had a family that only let those ifluences strengthen us! We learned respect for others and for our country! And we ALWAYS took our hats off and put our hands over our hearts when the flags where present.  We are proud of our country and what it stands for! And we are deeply grateful for those who have served and lost their lives!  They will never be forgotten! They will always have a special place in our hearts, and their ulitimate sacrifice of life itself will always stand as a testimony of their character of willingness!  We are grateful for those who have served and returned home safely, and for the lives that they are living now and the influence they have on all of us.  Not many can comprehend what living a post war life is like for those who will always remember the things that took place.  Thank you to those who have served! And especially my amazing DAD! I'm SO grateful for his example to me of sacrifice.   We also are grateful for those who now serve, and pray for you and your families that you will be safe and protected from harms way and that when that special day comes that you get to come home to your loved ones, that you will arrive in safety! 

 I love Memorial Day!  Its one of those days that I remember as a kid, and even later in years, of going out to the cemetary and putting flowers on my grandma and grandpa Croslands grave's.  And now in more recent years, my grandma and grandpa Cook have also joined them and are in the same cemetary.  I also remember my mom talking to me about the proper places to stand at the cemetary because she wanted me to be very respectful while we were visiting the graves.  I remember we would talk about the good memories that we had of my grandparents when they were here with us, and how we know that we will see them again and what that reunion will be like.  I'm grateful for those early memories as a child, of learning respect for those who have passed on, but also to remember their wonderful lives that they lived and to try and be like them and always honor their name by our actions.

I love this picture so much, because you all know how much I love horses!  And............I love our flag! So this is a perfect picture!  Someone had posted it on FB and I loved it so much that I saved it. The job that Kade and I are currently doing doesnt allow me to be home on Memorial Day but I will always have those memories.  Something else that always makes Memorial Day super special is the 21 gun sallute that they do at the cemetary every year.  I love to see the men in thier uniforms for such a special occasion and watch the flag be raised! I love that all the people watching are standing, united, together with their hands on their heart! And one of the best things about the whole day, is when the taps are played! I always get goose bumps when I hear that tune! I hope we can all take a moment today and remember those special people in our lives and I hope you all have a very Happy Memorial Day!  

Horse Riding....Beach/Redwoods!

 So many of you already know by now, that I was so fortunate to get to live a life-long dream that I have had, of riding a horse on the beach!  It was so awesome! Just as I'd imagined it would be!  It  was fun running in the water and just feeling the ocean breez!  The day was so pretty.  It was slightly overcast so it wasn't hot. It was funny, my horse wanted to drink some of the water, so he put his head down and took a sip and immediatly stopped!  Haha! Gotta love the ocean salt water!   

We took our 1st horse ride on the beach on Tuesday and then we went up through the redwood forests today(Thursday).  Riding in the redwoods was also really fun!  I loved it!  I feel so lucky to have met Kristi!  She is serisouly one of the sweetest people ever!  Such an awesome friend!   I told her that whenever she is in Utah, she needs to stop by and see me!  I wish that I could just take all of these wonderful people with me, back home and make them live there so I could see them whenver I want and hang out! So greatful for the wonderful people in my life!!

Never Give UP!!

Well, this post doesn't have any pictures, but I wanted to share some things that have been on my mind lately.  I have thought a lot about people in general, and how they don't give themselves enough credit in life!  And I guess what I mean is, people don't realize that they can do amazing things or they don't realize their full potential.  We as human beings have the ability to do whatever we want in life.  Kade and I were talking about the best of athletes and why they are the best.  He said, that they push themselves.  We talked about what pushing yourself means to an athlete.  When an athlete is in the middle of a competition, if he is a wrestler, a runner, or whatever it may be, he/she will try so hard that only colapsing on the ground will stop them from finishing what they have set out to do.  We have so much more mental power than what we even comprehend.  When you compare this to enduring life, sometimes physically colapsing would be the easy way out if thats all we had to do, but enduring our trials mentally is the true endurance test.  I think about what a privledge life really is.  Its a privledge to be here on the earth and enjoy this beautiful place and we get to learn from trials and experiences that we have.  They mold and shape us.  Did we think that we would come here to earth and not have any trials to go through.  Did we think that we could sign up for a specific life plan that would go as follows, maybe all good, and no bad!!??   No one has come here with the privledge of picking their trials in life.  We all get dealt a different hand, some of us may have a health problem or a family issue, and others have something completely different, but WE CHOOSE what our life will be like according to the attitude that we have! I see people give up, because they don't realize their full potential.  I see people defeated before they've even started!  I also see people with amazing attitudes who inspire me everyday and people who have changed my life just by the way that they choose to live theirs!  I also see people who quietly endure without complaining and I see people whos hearts have been shattered by some things that have come their way, all are very dear examples to me.  Its so important that we live our lives with confidence, and humility and put any pride or arrogance aside.  And its important that we look to the future with hope and faith and that we LOVE others unconditionally and help them realize their full potential in life!  Never give up and KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!

Tee Shirt Makeover

 So this "before" picture doesn't even look like the same shirt because of the lighting but oh well, you get the idea.  I have had this shirt tucked away in my "project to-do's" and am finally getting to it :)  I've been wanting to keep this shirt because I love orange but for some odd reason, there is a bleach stain on it..........don't know how that happened but that seems to happen to me once in a while :)  So I've been wanting to do a makeover on it to cover the bleach stain and be able to wear it again.  I had no idea how I was going to redo it or the colors that I wanted to use.  So I just started digging through my material and this is what I came up with :)  I tried it on with jeans and thats my favorite.