Congrats Kathy!

My mother-in-law Kathy Farnsworth is an amazing biology teacher at Scottsdale Community College and was awarded the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award for 2008. The Davis County Clipper wrote a nice article about Kathy and her achievement. Needless to say we are so proud of her and everything she does!

Hello from Indiana!

We made it! We have had an incredibly long week but we are here now. Here is a break down of what we have been up to:

Monday: Packing up! Thank you to everyone that showed up to help us pack up the truck. We had plenty of people and it went so fast and smooth.

Tuesday: We finished packing the car and the truck, cleaned the house and headed out. We drove from Mesa, AZ to Albuquerque, NM. My favorite state: Arizona, I loved driving through the pines.

Wednesday: Drove from Albuquerque, NM to Tulsa, OK. My favorite state: Texas, it was flat so we were able to use cruise control! Unfortunately it was incredibly windy all day so that by the time we made it to Tulsa we were exausted.

Thursday: Drove from Tulsa, OK to Terre Haute, IN. My favorite state: Missouri, it was really pretty and I loved the brick buildings in St. Louis. The picture below is pretty much what I saw for three days straight. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I would be quite grateful if I didn't see it's tailend for a while.

Friday: Drove from Terre Haute, IN to Indianapolis, IN. My favorite state: Indianapolis, because we were finally here. This was the only day we had any rain. We dropped the moving truck off at the apartment complex, went to Walmart and Costco, then went back for our walk through and to fill out the paperwork. Unfortunately, it was still sprinkling on and off so we weren't sure when we were going to unpack the truck. Rick talked to the Elders Quorm guys and we ended up deciding to do it Friday night since the complex was having a yard sale in the morning. Luckily it stopped raining long enough for us to get the truck unloaded. We had so many people show up to help us unpack last minute and are so grateful for all of the help, tips and support that they gave us!

Saturday: Spent all day unpacking. We have acquired a bunch of stuff in the years that we have been married and so now we are figuring out where everything goes, what to keep, and what to get rid of. Also our family room furniture is quite large and our family room is quite small. This is creating a couple of our issues. We got our bedroom set up and most of our kitchen. Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be done and I'll post pictures of our place then. I also have to give Rick a lot of credit. He pretty much packed the house up by himself and did such a great job that nothing is broken!

Indiana is really different from anywhere we have ever lived. The radio stations are all country and religion, there is a ton of green (trees, grass, etc) everywhere, and we have to drive 10 miles to get to church. The people have been really friendly though and we love living in a complex with quite a few other medical, dental, and law students. We will try to keep everyone updated as we start our new adventure!

Mountain View Toro's 1998

Saturday night was Rick's 10 year high school reunion.  It was a great chance for him to catch up with some old friends that he hasn't seen in awhile.  It was interesting to see how everyone has changed and what they are up to now.

Aren't we so cute?  It is hard to believe it has been 10 years since he graduated!

Rick, Nate Duffin, and Matt Palmer

Mark Jacobson, Rick, and Dean Nelson

Christie, Rick, Aaron and Becca Nelson

Party at the Johnson's!

This past Saturday we went to a party at my manager's house.  It was so much fun to spend time with my friends from work as well as their spouse's one more time before we move.  They have become some of my closest friends and I am so sad to leave them!

Ken Eggers (our Sales Manager), his wife, and Dan Smith (our Controller) 

Larry Erp (sales engineer) serving up margaritas

Laura Kempton and Rhonda Erp keeping Larry company

Charlie Dall and Tyler playing Yard Jarts

Tiffany Zimmer (sales engineer), Bob Alford (sales engineer), Me, Dave Dall, and Nancy Dall

Leann's husband, Marguerite and Ray Martin 

Me and Nancy Dall (we are both Project Managers)

Tiffany and her boyfriend Tyler

Me and Marguerite (she is also a Project Manager)

Our complete department and our manager Erick Johnson in the middle

Erick and "The Girls"

Leann, Me, Marguerite, Nancy, Audrey, Rose-Mary, Karen, Chad, Erick, and Ryan

San Diego Zoo

We spent Memorial Day at the San Diego zoo.  We rode the double-decker bus to take a tour and then we walked around for a closer look.

Little Jeffrey and my mom on the bus.  He was so enthralled with the animals!

Rick and I taking a ride.  It was a little chilly on top of the bus.

My beautiful sisters: Caitlan and Stacee.

Rick teaching little Jeffrey not to be afraid of the gorilla statues by petting the statue.

Nice gorilla!

So the maps were a little confusing at the zoo.  Either that or we are all direction impaired.

My brother Jeff and his wife Camille.

Stacee taking a little ride in the stroller thanks to my dad.

Rick and little Jeffrey checking out the animals.  Jeffrey loved being carried by his Uncle Rick.

Silly Dad!

We had such a great time and the weather was perfect.  We all got to check out our favorite animals and enjoy the zoo through the eyes of a two-year old.

Flying Kites on the Beach

We bought $3 kites from Wal-mart and then spent a windy afternoon flying them on the beach.  Little Jeffrey of course headed straight for the ocean and spent a few minutes playing in the surf until he realized that it was cold.  We had a few mishaps with kites getting tangled and getting away from us but all in all it was a nice relaxing afternoon in one of my favorite places!

Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego

This Memorial Day weekend we spent time with my whole family in San Diego.  We flew in Thursday night and hung out with my parents and siblings while eating a yummy dinner from Rodrigos.  I hope they have "real" Mexican food in Indiana.  Late Thursday night my brother Jeff and his wife Camille drove in from Costa Mesa.

On Friday, Caitlan and Brett had to go to school so while they were gone the boys went to go see Iron Man at the movies and Camille, my Mom, and I went to the salon for pedicures.  It was heaven.  We also stopped by Bread Bites on the way home.  Yummy!  That afternoon we all watched "So You Think You Can Dance".  We had flight issues the night before so Caitlan had tapped it for us.  It was so good.  I am so excited for this season.  Rick and I also had to run to Wal-mart to pick up a few things that had been forgotten at home so we also picked up a few kites to play with for the weekend.

Saturday we played with the kites in the middle of the street for a little bit.  It was a good thing it was a little stormy for the weekend so we had lots of great wind.  We went bowling as a family also and found out that Rick and my Mom are the bowlers of the family.  After bowling we went for dinner at Outback.  Yum!  (seeing a trend?  I think I might have a small obsession with food!)  We then went back and relaxed in the hot tub until my sister Stacee and my nephew Jeffrey arrived.  We haven't seen Jeffrey since he was 6 months (he is now two) and so we are so glad they could come visit.  It took him a little while to warm up to us but it was still great to see him.

Sunday was church in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to fly the kites on the beach.  It was perfect weather and it was fun to watch Jeffrey explore the ocean and the sand.

Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo in the morning and then took pictures at Poway Park.  Since we had everyone in town we decided we needed a family picture done and then we took a few pictures of our own.  It was a great weekend and we were so glad to spend time with my family before we move away.

Little Jeffrey showing Uncle Rick what he really thought of him.  Just kidding, this is his "catching" hand for playing ball.

Aunt Christie and Jeffrey playing with the fire truck.

Learning how to blow on the pinwheel.

Giving him a taste of cream soda.  Mama was so happy with us.

Camille and Jeff.

Mom, Camille, and Jeff at the bowling alley.

Rick showing off his stuff.

Dad, Brett, Mom, and Camille.

Mom and Dad at Poway Park

Brett at Poway Park

Jeffrey and Stacee

Christie and Rick

Jeffrey and his sticks that he did not want to let go of.

Stacee and Mom

Dad and Jeffrey