Superman

I just wanted to give a little update on my dad. He is amazing! I swear he is superman. For having had brain surgery he is doing really well. I love him so much! He has had his stitches taken out. He's out and about, taking it easy. I just wanted to post some pictures and share our adventure with the rest of you. Thank you again so much for your prayers and thoughts. We love you guys!

Dad with no hair. I think the look suites him. He has a very spherical noggin'.

Pre-operation. I believe he was modeling Josh's look.

Me and Pop pre-operation

We tried my hair on Pop. We thought the darker hair helped him fit in with the rest of the fam.

Grandpa waiting during Pop's surgery.

Post-operation. Hardcore!

Bandages off. Enter here. Take a look around.

Relaxing.

Oh Happy Day!

We are back from our very short trip to Utah for Dad's surgery and we have good news! In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "It's not a tumor!" I'm going to post some AMAZING pictures from our little adventure and give you a little more of the story, but I did want to let you know that my dad is doing well.

He still had to have brain surgery because they didn't know it wasn't a tumor until they got inside. What they did find was something called a Venous Varix. I'm still trying to find a good definition for it, but it's basically an enlarged blood vessel in his brain. His veins were attaching to it and feeding it which caused two things 1) made it grow and 2) blocked blood flow to other parts of his brain. It has been removed and sent to a lab for testing, but the doc said he should be good.

For just having brain surgery he is doing amazingly well. Everything works perfectly and he's back to cracking his jokes and giving his nurses a hard time. Like I said before, he is a strong man and we knew things would go well.

I did want to thank all of you who prayed and fasted on my dad's behalf. I really, truly believe that all the love and support is what helped things go so well. I've got lots of thoughts on that that maybe I'll share later. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU so much again. My family thanks you as well and are amazed that so many people have contacted us. We love you guys!

Any Man Can Be a Father

I said that a lot has been going on these past few weeks that I've been gone (teething puppies, trip to Vegas, moving apartments, etc.). I have a ton of pictures and stories that I'd like to share and I will, but I'd like to post about something, or rather someone, close to my heart.This is my dad, Jared (aka Papa Joe). To finish the quote from the title, "Any man can be a father; it takes someone special to be a dad." My dad is such an amazing man. He's done so much for me like build my appreciation for music, how to throw a baseball, ride a bike, drive, and to do my best in everything. He's supported me through school for so many years and has always encouraged me to be better.

Everything I've done in my life has been to make him and my mom proud of me. I haven't always been the best at that, but I try. I've always been able to call him and ask him advice for all sorts of stuff, like when the brakes on my miata were going out and I had no idea what was happening. I was on the freeway and I called him during one of his trips with Bryan and he was able to tell me exactly what was wrong and what I needed to do to fix it. I also remember when he would take me to the church parking lot to teach me how to drive a clutch. He had so much stinkin' patience!

I think almost everyone on our blog list has met my dad. Most people think he's pretty cool. I do too, which is why this has been kind of hard for me. A few weeks ago my dad had a seizure of some sort. My brothers found him and he couldn't talk. He was taken to the hospital where there were tests and things done. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him. He went home feeling a little better, with medication, and advice to not drive for 3 months.

He went back to the hospital about a week later to do an MRI. Just this last week we got the results. My dad has a brain tumor. He's going in for surgery this following Wednesday, September 10th. The doctors and other sources say that the tumor is slow-growing and that the surgery to be performed has very good odds of being very successful. It was a good thing that Dad had the seizure because it helped to detect the tumor early enough.

My dad is young and he is amazing. He's healthy and the surgery is going to go well. Still though, it would mean alot to me and Eli and the rest of our family if you could say a little prayer for my dad. I love you Papa Joe!

Albuquerque Aloft

Just as a quick reminder to our family and friends, OCTOBER is coming up in a month and a half! That means the International Balloon Festival is rapidly approaching. Here's a little preview as to what we've been waking up to every morning. It was launched at the park right next to our house:

I have also convienently placed links to Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Expedia, CheapTickets, and Hotwire here so that you can book your flights as soon as possible. Remember, you'll be flying into the Albquerque Airport during October 4-12.

Eli and I have toyed with the idea of being balloon chasers sometime during the week of the fiesta. We've heard it's the best way to get free rides in the balloons. Let us know if you want to come visit. Our place is perfect for the two of us, but we do have an extra guest room with a nice full bed, as well as room for the two air mattresses that we own. It'll be great fun!

Let us know when your flight is booked so we can put it on our calendars! We don't want to forget to pick you up (unless you've rented a car!).

I love to see the Temple...

Sunday was such a nice relaxing day. Eli and I finally took the time to go see the Temple. Usually on Sundays we go home after church and crash (Eli wakes up early and I work late), but not this last Sunday. We had heard that the Temple wasn't too far away, but we weren't quite sure.

We got a little lost, I'm not gonna lie, but we finally made it. The Albuquerque Temple is definitely a lot different from other temples I've been to. Most are made out of the gray colored granite and have some very intricate designs, but the Albuquerque Temple is very earthy and simple. According to LDSChurchTemples.com it's made of a "Desert Rose concrete trimmed with Texas Pearl Granite," so it's more of a rose-y, sand color. It's beautiful in it's simple surroundings and blends well with the pueblo-esque look of the rest of the city. I love the stars near the spire. You can click the picture for a closer look.
There is always such a good feeling around the Temple. Even when you're not inside. It reminds me of such happy times in my life; the first time I did Baptisms, being sealed to my family, marrying Eli, and all the times I drove to the Oakland Temple when I was a teenager. It's such a peaceful, happy feeling where you know everything is okay. I'm so grateful for temples and Eli and I are so excited to go in one of these days (when our schedule allows; we're recommend holders!).
I have a fascination with the waters that are usually found on temple grounds. The smell and the cool mist is so refreshing and the sound is so peaceful. It definitely enhances the temple experience!

Date Day

Eli and I have a pretty interesting schedule right now. I'm working at Barnes & Noble right now and Eli is working part-time as a lead at Sam's Club and working to get the business up and running here. What this all means is that Eli pretty much works all day and I usually work evening until midnight. We don't get to see one another very much except for Sundays.

We have decided that when Eli and I have time off together other than Sunday, we get to have our date night. We think it's pretty stinking important to spend time together; you know, happy marriage and all.

Usually for date day we go out to eat and watch a movie. Today was a little different. We went out to breakfast at a place here in New Mexico called Weck's. It's amazing! It's a ton of good food for a decent price and it's delicous! I had lunch and Eli had breakfast (his favorite). I had the chicken fried steak lunch special w/ homemade chips and potato wedges and a salad. Eli had Biscuits n' Gravy, another favorite. If ever you pass through New Mexico or come to visit, a stop at Weck's is necessary!

We contemplated going to a movie, but then remembered hearing about a ceramic store nearby called the Painting Corral. It's one of those places where you go in and pick a ceramic piece to glaze. You can use pieces that have already been fired or glaze a piece that hasn't been fired yet.

It was a tough decision for us to pick something, but we finally settled on some pirate pieces. I told Eli that I know we don't have any kids yet, but when we have a boy I'd like to decorate his room in a pirate theme. I love pirates! So we made our choices and got to work.

Eli worked pretty hard. His focus totally paid off because his pirate skull came out amazing! All you do is paint the project with an acrylic glaze. Once you're done painting you blow dry the project with a blow dryer. After that you apply a thin layer of glossy glaze and blow dry again. It was fascinating to see Eli work. We've both taken ceramic classes and were pretty anal about our projects

Here's Eli applying a barnyard red color to his pirates do-rag. And here are our finished projects:

This was one of the best dates Eli and I have been on in awhile. It's amazing to think that we have one another and have so much fun together! If you don't make the time now to do it, you really should have a weekly date night with your spouse. It does wonders!

Cherry-stained Fingers and Full Bellies

Yesterday was a nice, relaxing day. I ran around a lot, but it turned out to be well worth it. I slept in kind of late, having worked late the night before (closing at B &N is killing me!). I woke up with enought time to play with the puppies, shower, get ready, and pick up lunch for Eli. I usually make lunch for him, but was running a little late. I do kind of like closing at work because Eli and I are still able to have lunch (at Sam's) and dinner (at B & N) everyday. People think it's a little obssessive, but it's the least we can do while are schedules are a little off.

Continuing on, I stopped at a RS luncheon to get to know a few of the sisters in ward. I made it in time for the clean up. Nice! I met two nice ladies though. It's been great going to this new ward (outside of Utah) because people have been very receptive to us moving in. Although there are obviously people that have been friends for awhile, it's not an odd thing to have a new family move in. It's been great to have that openess and welcoming smiles.

After the world's shortest luncheon, I felt ambitous. I was planning on making spaghetti, but decided I would tackle a pineapple-stuffed chicken and bake a cherry pie. My first pie ever and it turned out amazing! The recipes came from Chef Britta's website. I went to girls' camp with her when we were younger back in California and she's turned into an amazing Chef! Thanks Britta!

Both turned out delicious! One of the most fun things about cooking and baking is the help. Eli is such an amazing husband. Both recipes can be kind of intense and I needed to grow an extra pair of hands. Eli became my extra pair. Instead of relaxing after a long day at work or playing on his new phone, he helped me. I gave him the daunting task of pitting and halving the cherries and he did with no complaint, after I threw a fit because my dough didn't come out right (he fixed that too). He's so stinkin' cool that way. It was pretty funny too; his fingers were a deep purple color after chopping into all of those cherries! I wish I would've had a camera, but I'll give you a little idea of what it might have looked like. Imagine black, tire-stained fingers (they were clean) and the little purple, cherry-stained fingers mixed. They looked a little like this:

We spent the rest of the night stuffed and content with our puppies. Sometimes I have to stop and thank God for the wonderful life I've been blessed with; an amazing husband, a wonderful place to live, our wild puppies, and the ability to follow a good recipe!

Say A Little Prayer

I would like everyone to meet my Mommy Martha. To call her grandma just wouldn't seem right. Mommy Martha is such an amazing woman. She has the sweetest personality and she's so giving. One of the things I remember about Mommy is that she is always in the kitchen cooking! When I was little and visiting her in Texas she made me eggs, steak, beans, and fresh tortillas for breakfast. It was amazing. She takes care of everyone in our family, and even those not in our family. I love her so much!

Just today I was told that my little Mommy Martha found a lunp in her throat. After a biopsy and tests it was found that she has stomach cancer. Next week she'll be going in for a CAT scan to see how extensive the cancer has spread. Please pray for my Mommy Martha. I don't want to think about the possible outcomes, but she is much loved and much needed. Please pray for her. She is such a special woman!

A Belated 4th Posting

I apologize for being a little behind on updating our blog, we've been a little busy with the move and all. Not to fear though, things are going extremely well for us in New Mexico. We've been having quite the adventure here in Albuquerque. It's unbelievable how much there is to do here! We'll keep you posted of all of our excursions.

I'll start with the 4th of July. It was so much fun! We went to the Rio Rancho Parade we our puppies and our friends, the Smith's. There weren't any huge floats or anything, but they had some awesome cars and it was still fun to get out and see all the new people.

After the parade Eli and I and the Smith's went to Old Town Albuquerque where they have so many museums and little shops. It was pretty cool. Our first stop was The Rattlesnake Museum which boasts the largest collection of different species of live rattlesnakes in the world! It was neat to see all the snakes, but also to see all the different memorabilia from cultures all over the world that have been influenced by snakes.

After we wrestled with the Rattlesnake Museum, we made our way to the Museum of Natural History. We didn't stay too long, but are consdiering a membership there, if only to see the dinosaur and living sea exhibits!

As we made our way back to the car we found the National Atomic Museum. It was a small, inviting museum that followed the timeline of WWII. They also had a Children's science lab that kept Eli and Todd busy for most of our visit. Pretty interesting stuff.

We finally made it home to where our sweet pork burritos, mexican rice, and Eli's amazing refried beans were waiting for us. It was the quietest dinner we've ever had because the food was so good!

After dinner we all piled (including the puppies) into the Smith's expedition and found a perfect place for fireworks. We took out the back seat of the car and set it on the sidewalk so we could kick back and enjoy the show. It was a nice production, a little on the long side, but still entertaining! Eli and I were amazed the Lima and Chorizo handled the event so well. To be more honest, Lima spent the time digging a hole to lay in and Chorizo cuddled up to Bonnie the whole time being the pansy that he is. After the city fireworks we went home and lit a few of our own fireworks.

All in all, it was a great day! It was well spent with friends and our little family and I think that we are really going to enjoy our lives in New Mexico!

My Brother ROCKS!

KUTV channel 2 held a search for a Utah Rock Star. My brother Jake was a semi-finalist. For those of you who don't know, my brother is 18 and is an amazing musician! He sings, he writes, he plays; he does it all! He's got such amazing talents. Although Jake didn't win the contest, he's still my hero. This kid is going places! You can check out a clip of him here at KUTV. The clip is on the upper right side of the page. I love you little bruddah!

Nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat

It's been an insane week. Let me start off by saying that I am so grateful for my husband. He's working so hard right now, so I won't have to one day. I decided that I could help the process a little bit and keep myself busy at the same time.

St. George finally got smart and built a Barnes & Noble. I've started a summer job there. We open on May 28th, but we've been way busy stocking and getting ready to open. I had to start training and things this week, so I'm working double. I teach in the morning and then drive over to B & N and work til 10. It's no way to live a life. I love it so far though. I cannot believe that there are so many books! It's really opened my eyes to how much literature is out there. Ive already got a huge list of books I wanna read. B & N is cool because they want their employees to be well-read, so they have a book loan program. We get to borrow any book we want as long as it is a hard back and we bring it back in sellable shape.

Either way, like I said, it's no way to live a life. I feel terrible for people who have to work two jobs in order to survive. I am so blessed to have Eli who takes care of me and lets me to work if
I want to. If I were up to him, I'd be done with working all together. We're half way there. I'm taking a break from teaching this next year. I feel great about that decision! I need a break, but I do need to stay busy, hence the B & N job. But...

I don't know how long that will last either. Eli has been in New Mexico since Tuesday morning. He headed out there to investigate. He and a business partner/friend of ours are looking into expanding out to New Mexico. They've been making contacts and doing interviews out there. So far, things have been going really well. It's possible that the Adams family might be moving out to Albuquerque.

Eli's also been doing research to convince me to get out there. He knows I love having lots of options and I love exploring ( St. George has limited options), and I miss being near a big city. He's found amusement parks, hiking trails, museums, haunted tours, the balloon fiesta, etc. There is so much culture and so many things to do out there. He's also sending me pictures. It's very similar to St. George landscape-wise and weather. I'm thinking that I'll go down with him in June. He'll be going down at least 1 week out of each month until we decide if we're going to move there or not. I'm excited to visit and check out all of the interesting things Eli was telling me about.

Still, I'm more excited for my esposo to be home on Saturday. It's amazing how attached you can become to someone. It's so hard being away from each other for such a long time. I'm thankful that I have so much work right now to keep me busy, but I still feel like I'm missing a part of myself. I know that all of this will be worth it one day though. We're definitely much closer now.

P.S. You should all take advantage of us still being in St. George. We have 2 extra rooms! And if you can't make it out to St. George and we end up going to Albuquerque, put October 4-12 on your calendars! That's the week of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta!

An Adventuresome Weekend

It was a long, exciting, and eventful weekend. We had a company convention up in Draper at Juan Diego High School. It was insane! There were so many representatives there. A friend of ours made it up on Friday. He was able to see what we're able to do as a company and he was there to see our Division Manager promotion! Yeah! Saturday morning we went for a training with Chris Koob, who is a top leader in the company. It's always amazing to hear people share their experiences and teach us so much. We also got surprise recognition! We were one of the top base builders in the heirarchy.

After the training on Saturday, Eli and I met up with Miranda at her gymnastics meet in Midvale. I haven't been to a meet in forever and Eli's never been, but we were both impressed. She took 2nd place all-around for her age catergory. She did awesome on the floor excersice! It's crazy to see her do all of the events because she is sooo long and lanky! The girl is a stick and to see her flip her body around is almost comical. she does, however, have a certain grace when she moves. We're so proud of Panda!

We spent that night at my parents' house that evening. We were supposed to drive home back to St. George Saturday night, but we were able to change plans and stay Monday. My mom had no idea though. We spent the night playing rock band. I don't know how many of you have ever played rock band, but it is so much fun! It's like guitar hero times ten. You not only have a guitar, but you also have a bass guitar, drums, and a singer. Let's just we had oddles of fun. My cousin Landon and his fiance, Becky, came over that night too. We tried all sorts of different things, including an all girls band. We totally rocked! It's pretty funny to watch us non-musical people try and sing and keep rhythm on the drums. Eli and I are set on investing in the game one day. We think it's an excellent invention. It can be used to teach pitch, rhythm, hand/eye coordination, etc. Not to mention, it's just a blast for the fam to do together.

Sunday morning was an amazing day. We spent a little time with my mom being mother's day and all. Then we went to church (it was a little early at 11; we're used to going at 2!). My grandparents came down because Jake was being ordained an elder. It was so cool to my pop, Jake, and Josh bless the sacrament. After church, my brother had some friends and family come over and to ordaniation. It was beautiful. We're so happy for my brother; he's such an amazing YSA!

After that we grubbed on my dad's FABULOUS mother's day lunch. He spent 2 days preparing for this lunch. He marinated steak and chicken, and shrimp (he even de-terded it himself). We had fresh veggies like squash, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and mushrooms. It was such a delicious meal and it was great spending time with our grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin and soon to be cousin-in-law.

Eli and I headed back down soon after that with Kenneth, Tawnya, and Sean in tow (they drove up with us for the convention). I fell asleep in the car after about 10 minutes, but woke up at the perfect time. I woke up right when we pulled into the Scipio house. We stopped to visit with Eli's parents (my favorite in-laws!). We wished Tonia happy mother's day and hung out for a little bit. We also raided the kitchen a little bit. I love the Adams' home...it's always stocked!

As I was thinking about it, Eli and I are so blessed. Not only are we best friends, but we have the best families. We get along so well with each others' family. It's always so much fun to spend our time with them. We love our brothers and sisters and nieces and nephew. We are so truly blessed for everything we have!