Rattle, Rattle, Rattle

Have you ever seen your life flash before your eyes? I have. Twice. Once was in our car accident in 2006, (which is another story), but this time it was last week at GIRLS CAMP!

I was having a great time with all of my girls, and had not seen one scary creature. We saw lots of squirrels and a raccoon, which was pretty fun. Thursday morning, after we packed lunches and water bottles into our backpacks, we departed for our planned hike. It was going to be a 3-5 mile hike (depending on what year the girls were...), and I was going to go the distance. We hiked up to an old abandoned mine, which was awesome! At that point, the lesser hikers turned back to camp, while the uber hikers continued on.After a mile more, we turned to go back to the camp too. I was in the lead, with my friend (and YW President) Amy, and one of our cute first-years. We were talking and having fun when I took a step and instantly heard the rattling of a RATTLESNAKE right by my foot. In all the manuals it says to freeze and calmly back away. I KNOW that. However, in that instant, all I thought was, "HOLY COW!" I screamed and ran, pulling our young woman out of harms way with me. The snake was mad. He rattled for a LONG time, and the when the man who was helping us on the hike tried to move it out of the way with a stick, it struck the stick. That could have been my leg. Yikes!My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I have not had the great experience of almost stepping on a rattlesnake before, but let me tell you... it is NO fun! The rest of the way back to camp I was paranoid. Was that the end of our snake adventures? NO! We had one more rattlesnake encounter a little ways down the trail. This time it was a little further away, so it wasn't quite as traumatic. But still scary. And then a little garter snake slithered out of a hole in a fallen-log bridge just as I was crossing the river on it. Let me tell you, I was DONE with snakes for that day. And probably for the rest of my life. (By the way, this is not the snake that we saw... I was too afraid to get close enough to take a picture after it almost took my life! This is thanks to some other brave soul who put it on Google images.)

HaPpY InDePeNdAnCe DaY!

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

Dallas it is!

So a lot has happened in a month. We thought we were moving to Guam, which filled us with both happiness and anxiety. Dave had an offer of employment from the University of Guam, which we were prepared to take, and then he got calls from Clayton State University in Georgia, and the University of North Texas, Dallas for interviews. We both felt like he should do the interviews to keep all our options open, so he went to Texas and Georgia to interview. Last week, he got offers of employment from both of them. Now, it was decision time.
We weighed all of our options, and tried to take into account all sorts of things, and we made our decision this weekend. We are going to Dallas, Texas. YAY!
Now we will all have to grow big hair (and a big mustache for Dave), wear cowboy boots, and become fans of the Dallas Cowboys. Because everything is bigger in Texas.

Happy Father's Day and Anniversary to my love...

Dave is the best husband and father I could ever imagine or hope for. I love him with all my heart, and can't believe that we have been married for thirteen years! He is such a great man, and such an awesome dad to our girls. There is nobody in this world like him. I am so glad I get to be on this adventure with him... and look forward to being with him forever.
Today is our anniversary and Father's day, and Dave is not here. He is on his way to Atlanta, GA for an interview with a university there. I know he would be here if he could, and we miss him...
He is such a hard worker, and has always provided for our family so that I could stay home with our children. He is loyal and true, brave and strong, and my hero. I love him.

School's out!

Since school has been out, we have been keeping busy with lots of things, and I haven't been keeping up on my blog. So, here is one "catch up" post.
Ciera and Chloe both ran in their school's "Wildcat Run" at the end of the school year. It is a one mile run that the kids are encouraged to train for, and then compete in with their grades. I ran with both of them (Chloe's grade ran first, then I got to rest while the next grade ran, then I ran with Ciera), and I had a really great time! They both ran the whole mile... which they had not done before. I was very proud of them. At the end of the mile, I told both of them to sprint to the finish line. Ciera had to race another girl right up to the line (and Ciera beat her...), but Chloe left me in the dust at the finish. They both came in at right around 10 minutes, which I thought was FANTASTIC!

In the 13 years that Dave and I have been married, we lived for the first 4 years in Clovis, CA:
Then the next 6 years in Riverside, CA while Dave was doing graduate studies at UCR:
We then moved to picturesque Logan, Utah for the last 3 years.
Now it is time to move on. Dave was just offered a faculty position at the University of Guam. I know... GUAM. Such a far away, new place... but so beautiful!We are excited for this new chapter of our lives, and hopefully it will prove to be an awesome adventure.

Ciera's Birthday Weekend

Ciera's birthday was a busy day. She woke up at 6:30 and woke us up to watch her open presents. She was really happy with everything she got! After that, Ciera and Chloe had Stake Primary Choir practice. (The Primary children in our Stake are singing for our Stake Conference next month in the Logan Tabernacle. It should be a really great experience for them!)
For lunch, we had a babysitter come to watch Chloe, Brooke and Autumn while Dave and I took Ciera out for her birthday. We went to a local mexican food restaurant and then took Ciera to Borders to spend her birthday gift card. She picked out a few books that she has been wanting to read. That afternoon was the last performance of Peter Pan, so Dave and the little girls cam to watch the play. It went really well, and they all really enjoyed watching Ciera and Chloe perform.
After the play was done on Saturday, it was time for Ciera's birthday party. She had six friends come over, and had a pajama movie party. She had asked if she could have a sleepover a while ago, and we agreed on a party where they got to do sleepover-type things without actually sleeping over. It was fun for her (and a bit crazy for me!), and her sisters all got to participate too. They had cake and ice cream first. Ciera wanted a Pikachu cake this year. (I don't really know why... but, whatever!) It turned out okay... the kids all knew who it was anyway.After the cake, they opened presents then went down to watch a movie. They watched "The Princess Bride". (As much as a bunch of 10 year old, energetic, sassy girls can watch a movie at a party...) When it was time for them to go, I was ready! (I don't think Ciera was ready for them to go though!) I think she had a fun party and a fun day!We also got to visit, last weekend, with our friends from Riverside who were up here for a grandmother's funeral. John and Heather, Michael and Hailey came up to see Peter Pan (John's brother's family lives here in Logan, and his sister-in-law was one of the directors of the play!) and the on Sunday came over to our house for a little bit to visit. It was fun to see them. It took a while for the kids (especially Michael and Ciera) to be comfortable with each other again after not seeing each other for so long, but by the time they left, it was (almost) like old times. All in all, it was a fun, and very busy, weekend!