I've been hearing a lot lately about how everyone needs to leave the valley, "at least for a little while." "It's good for you," "You'll learn and see so much," "You need to find out what you want out of life," are just a few things I hear very often. I heard it even more often when I was about to graduate high school. I never left the valley. And I'm totally happy. I think that some of us need to leave and find out who we are and what we want out of life. But some of us already know. Some of us already know who we are before we leave this place. I know that a lot of people don't like it here and that's ok. But I love this place. I love the small town that I live in. I know who I am, and I know what I want out of life. And I didn't have to leave to realize that. It did take me a while to figure out that I wanted to marry Michael and be a mom. But I stayed here and it's all turned out great. I can still travel and see lots of places. But what's wrong with living where you grew up? I really love it here. I know that some people leave and they come back different and sometimes improved people, and that's great. But I don't think that leaving is for everyone. I think you need to ask youself two simple questions.
What do you want out of life?
Who are you?
I figured out who I am, and I know what I want out of life. In fact, I'm well on my way to getting all those things I want. I love my job, and my husband. I can't wait to be a mom and I think that is one of the most important things I'm supposed to do here.
There a few things I love about living here.
I love that I can walk outside at night and see the stars.
I love that I am related to a huge population of people and I see them often, especially during basketball season.
I love that I know my neighbors.
I love that I know and love all the people I go to chuch with.
I love that when I answer the phones at work, more than half the time I already know who is on the other side.
I even like going outside and being able to smell the cows.
I like that I can go to the grocery store and know everyone who is there.
I love that I can drive for 10 miles and wave to 10 people, at least.
I like that I can drive through town and know who lives in each house.
I love that I grew up with cousins and so will my kids.
I LOVE living under the bluest skies you'll ever see.
I like that I'm surrounded by mountains.
I like that most of the stake attends a missionary farewell, even though we don't have those anymore. ;)
I like that the town sign says population 750.
I like that I can get pulled over by a cop and the whole town knows about it in 10 minutes.
I like that I knew how to drive a tractor before I knew how to drive a car.
I like that I learned to drive a car when I was 8 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_NOaiQLl6U

Father's Day Weekend

Michael and I had a fun weekend. We went to Albuquerque on Saturday and went to the temple. It was a really good session. Michael was running late and they had to restart the session so he and three other people could come in. It was pretty funny, I’ve never seen someone so red lol. He just smiled, though. After we went to the temple, we went to a really good restaurant with some of the members of our branch. It was a really cool Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos. They bring this awesome meat to your table on skewers and they slice it for you and you grab it with these little tongs. They also bring hot pineapple on those skewers and that stuff is amazing! I definitely recommend that place. www.tucanos.com
We also had to speak in church on Sunday. It was hard to fill up the whole time so they also asked a couple other people to stand up. I think it went pretty well but I’m glad it’s over. I have to say that it is MUCH easier speaking to a branch than it is speaking to a ward.We had a good Father’s day. After church we ate dinner with the Romero’s and opened cards. Then in the evening we went to the Sand Dunes with the Dunn’s. My grandpa was able to go and he had a really good time. My dad had a good time too. My niece loves playing in the water! She didn’t want to get out and go eat and then all night she asked if we could go back to the water. We’ll have to take her back sometime. She’s really starting to talk a lot, she’s such a little character. Champ also went with us and he had a great time. He loved playing with the kids and eating all the leftovers.
Next year we’ll be celebrating Father’s Day for Michael! The baby is growing fast! I didn’t have a baby bump for quite a while, but it seemed like in one week he had a growth spurt. Michael had been working out of town for a week and when he came home his eyes went straight to my stomach and he reached out and touched it like he couldn’t believe the baby was really in there. It was pretty cute.

Already June

Well here's another Summer Saturday. Michael and I went to the mountains today. He wanted to fish, but we couldn't really find the perfect creek. He got his line wet, but the only fish he caught were too small to eat. I didn't feel like fishing, it's hard to bend down these days! :)
Champ went with us, he's such a good little dog. And he loves fishing!
We were going to meet my family up there for a picnic but the weather wasn't great and I was more than ready to come home and have that little trip over with. My mom is a good sport, she's still cooking burgers and hot dogs on the deck outside in the freezing wind.
Michael has been working out of town this last week. It's not easy, but sometimes it is nice to have a night or two alone at the house. And we're glad that he is staying busy at work. Everyone who has a job these days is pretty fotunate.
I know I promised pictures, and I had some cute belly pictures and dog pictures, but somehow or another ALL the pictures and videos got deleted from our camera. We can't figure out quite how that happened so we're just blaming Casper for now.
I'll be 8 months pregnant tomorrow. It's so crazy to think that I'm going to be a mom in one month. We're pretty much ready for the little guy to get here and everyone is looking forward to it. I can't believe it's already the middle of June! Time flies when you're having fun :)

What a slacker!

Well I've been a slacker as far as blogging goes... We can't rip off the wireless internet at our house anymore so it's hard to give updates haha.
David went to the MTC on June 3rd. We're all so proud of him. When they went to drop him off at the MTC, they literally had to drop him off at the curb. There were three people in the center who had the swine flu, so they wouldn't let visitors go in. They had about 1 minute to get his luggage out of the car and say goodbye. It's hard enough to say goodbye after the little movie they show in the center, but they just dropped him right off lol. I don't know if I've mentioned it on my blog, but he's going to San Benardino, CA. I think he leaves the MTC on June 24th.
We got a puppy! He's a black lab named Champ. He's such a good dog and it's very hard to leave him in the morning. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to leave my little baby...
I have to go back to work now, but I will post some pictures this week.