Class of 2010

Congratulations Alexa and Irina!

For anyone who doesn't know, Irina is our adopted Argentinean sister.  OK, foreign exchange student... but basically a sister now.  She technically already graduated high school back in her home country last year but then came here for a school year and took more classes, just for the American experience.  That would make this her second time graduating high school– only this time she had to write Poe poetry, English essays, and read textbooks all in a new language.  A huge accomplishment!  Buen hecho, estrella gordita! 

Alexa finally made it!  Once their graduation was announced fireworks shot off into the clear sky and the football field exploded with silly string.  So much fun to watch!  Alexa protected her awesomely perfect hair and looked so cute and excited.  She's done!  I'm proud to say she'll be attending BYU-Idaho in the fall, staying in the dorms, and most definitely having the time of her life in my favorite little town of Rexburg.

Pretty soon this little guy will be dressed in purple.  He's going to be a freshman at Sabino this fall, and I'm afraid if I blink I might miss his high school years.  Life flies by SO fast!

Happy graduation girls! 

Summer Internship

When I came home this summer I was faced with a giant problem: I couldn't get a job.  It doesn't make sense for someone to hire me for a meager two and a half months.  But I still needed to be earning money so that Roy and I don't have to live in a cardboard box this fall.  I was stressing over it and venting to Mom when she made me a generous proposition.
Now I am on the "Home Engineering Internship."  Mom creatively invented a way for me to earn money and help me learn something useful in the process.  So by July I should be the perfect homemaker... maybe?
My projects so far have mostly been spring-cleaning related.  Organizing the laundry room has been a beast of a task.  But what I've been learning the most from is my dinner duty.  Four nights a week it's my job to get dinner on the table for the family.  And not just my frozen Stouffer's meals, either.  I'm expected to have vegetables, fruit, meat- the whole deal.  It's intense, especially for someone who has avoided cooking all her life.
The first few meals were miserable failures.  Most plates were still pretty full by the end of the night.  Poor kids would rather go to bed hungry than touch my zucchini pasta.  Perfectly understandable... it tasted like flour.  Nothing seemed to go quite right.  But THEN...

My first success was a Wednesday night.  I got the recipe off of the Betty Crocker website. It's called a cheesy sausage bake.  I chopped up green unions and diced tomatoes like a pro!  I whisked those eggs and Bisquick like Betty herself!  Okay, it did take me two tries because the first time I accidentally put two and a half TABLESPOONS of salt into the mixture instead of TEASPOONS!  I know I know, I need to pay more attention.  But hey, at least I caught it before I caused my entire family's blood pressure to shoot through the roof.
I couldn't believe it when Zac went in for seconds.  In my entire life I don't think I've ever made food that received so many compliments.  It felt good!
So that's what's been keeping me so busy this summer.  When I'm not planning a wedding or running I'm learning how to keep house.  It's not so bad- and I have my mom to thank :-) Love ya Mom!

I Would Run 500 Miles

Now that I look back, I realize it was kind of early in the morning and I may not have been fully awake when I was struck with this "idea."  I was walking the dogs (or the dog and the blundering horse) when the that Scottish song got stuck in my head:
And I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked 1,000 miles to fall down at your door
I started mapping out in my mind how I could run to Rexburg.  It's 1,015 miles, so I'd have The Procclaimers beat by a full fifteen.  It would be great training for the Teton Dam Half that I'm running in June... but I don't think I'd make it there in time to run it if I were heading up there by foot.  Plus, I'd be missing my Spanish class that I have to take down here in order to graduate on time.  And when would I have time to plan our wedding?
So I've dropped the idea of running to Rexburg.  And now that I'm more awake, it seems like a good decision.  But I do miss Roy.