Casa Grande Water

When I was thinking about what to write I asked Herbert if there is anything he wanted me to write, here is what he said: "You should write whatever you want your grand kids and and worst enemy to read in 50 years." Hopefully we don't have a worst enemy in 50 years so I am going to write whatever I want. =)

Well This has been a fun 8ish months since my last post. An update from us is that we are visiting Casa Grande, Arizona where my parents are living. We are just visiting for the holidays but unlike most people we are not leaving in between holidays. We thought about it but it just didn't seem logical. So we are here helping out, visiting and painting. My dad still kicks my butt on bike rides!

Backing up a little bit we were working and living in Denver, CO for the summer and fall, Herbert is taking online classes this fall and I continued working at a recreation center as a head lifeguard and swim instructor. We had a lot of fun but not to many adventures because we were so busy. Here are some highlights:

Chaperoning a Halloween dance dressed up like hippies
Getting lost in a corn maze with friends
Making homemade apple sauce, strawberry jelly, pumpkin seeds, and salsa
A friend(Laura)from CA/AK/ID came to visit
A lot of biking explorations
We went climbing once and hiking once or twice- pathetic we know!
Starting and Finishing to Work and the Glory series in a summer!

That is about it. We have been in Casa Grande for two days and so far have - Moved a lot of stuff from the garage to upstairs, painted ceilings at the other house, cooked, went for a bike ride, Herbert has done a lot of homework (including climbing Mt. Everest!! You will have to ask), visited with my grand parents and over all just been excited about Thanksgiving coming up. Today we are going garage saling! What a great way to spend a vacation!

Just FYI the water here is disgusting! My parents have a filter on the sink and my dad explained after you turn it on the red light flashes and when it the light turns off then the water is ready to drink. That water is nasty!!! I asked where it comes from and it was explained to me that the water comes from Colorado but half of it evaporates before it gets here. That is exactly what it tastes like, concentrated algae filled gross-nasty gutter water!
So this morning I asked my dad if we could change the filter on the PUR filtration system on the sink, he said ok and so I was looking at the box for the directions and guess what I saw?!! It says if you turn on the filtration and the light is green that means the filter is still good, if the light is yellow then it means change the filter soon, if the light is red it means CHANGE THE FILTER NOW!!! So I gently pointed this out and changed the filter. You would not believe what a difference this made!!!! I not only could choke down the water but I didn't make a disgusted face afterwards!! I could also drink it plain with out putting all sorts of drink mix into it! A Miracle, I think we all took something away from that experience. Now I don't have to wake up feeling like I will die of thirst every morning because I can't even think about drinking the water without making a grossed-out face! Casa Grande- so many adventures, so little good water.

What we believe

This link is to a site where I put a profile of what I believe and why, its kind of interesting. If you want to you can try and find me, I put my conversion story on there of how I became a Mormon. If you haven't heard of Mormon.org there are some awesome videos and information and you can read peoples personal experiences from all sorts of backgrounds around the world. Hope you enojoy!!

New Year, New Semester, New New New

Happy New Year! Lots of New and exciting changes new goals and resolutions, new things to have fun with! Herbert's New Year's resolution is 4 words and thats it.

Less Stress, Less Stuff

We are going to make a sign to hang in our house that says that to remind us. My New Years Resolutions are a lot more...I won't bore you =)
There are a lot of changes in our family right now. My parents sold their house and are going to be moving soon. Herbert's parents are going through a lot of life changes and decisions, and a move in the near future as well. I quit my job and I am looking into entrepreneur opportunities selling crochet hats, selling items for people on ebay and a few other little things.

I'm so excited about my "new" sewing machine! My first project is to put a new zipper on my camera case! Herbert started school today which is exciting he has some really fun classes this semester. Including a science about America pandemic he has to keep an exercise log and do fun things for mental, physical, spiritual, social, and emotional health.

Speaking of that we bought some Zumba DVD's and wow they are sooooo fun! Who knew dancing was a workout! haha I guess Jane Fonda did, I remember doing a video with my mom and thinking, this is just dancing! It is a blast though an hour goes by really fast and all day I feel great after there. It has been easier to get up in the morning and I'm really tired at bed time. It has also helped me drink more water. The only problem is we made a bunch of yummy cookies and an apple pie the other day and that is not helping.

More new exciting news, Herbert and I were talking about our talents and things we wanted to develop and I said I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar and guess what Herbert got me for Christmas!?? You guessed it my very own guitar!!! I have been practicing and can now play "When the Saints Go Marching In", and "Amazing Grace"! It is really fun and I am learning new things which is exciting! I got him a curly fry maker and it is really fun to make fries now! It is a lot faster too!!! We also bought a few games for Christmas and have been playing them! Herbert creams me at everything! Skip-bo, phase 10, Uno, it doesn't matter he beats me! The only thing I can hold my own in is Nerts! It has been fun though. We are also working on a puzzle at night when we have time. Its so fun spending so much time together, I am already missing him when he is at school. I have a few fun books I'm working on though. The Glass Castle, very interesting memoir about a young girl growing up with a crazy family. Also Bonds That Make Us Free by Terry Warner, and The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.

We also bought a popcorn maker, but it might not be what you are thinking, it goes in the microwave and its basically just a bowl that heats up really hot and pops the popcorn and then you can just put whatever you want on it, its awesome!!!!! Healthy and fast! We are working on the healthy part just getting health and staying healthy.

I know I talked a lot about stuff in this post that's not what it is all about though especially Christmas and New Years celebrations its about Family, Fun, time spent together, Memories made and reminisced about. One of the most special things that happened over Christmas is that we went to New York and Herbert's parents taught us to dance, that was priceless!!! Christmas was amazing because of family, we had some great laughs and had a lot of fun! Life is good!
Happy New New New Year Everyone!!!