Thanksgiving!

I know I have a lot to catch up on since we moved back to Utah, I will get to those, I promise!
Today I just wanted to count my blessings.  I am so grateful for the life I live and wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!  Some things that make me smile and help me realize that I have nothing to complain about and have so much to be grateful for... First and foremost, the Gospel of Jesus Christ because I know I am only this blessed because I have a Heavenly Father who LOVES me!  Secondly, My amazingly kind, generous, loyal, trusting, bestie-handyman-IT guy-confidant husband, Jason Woodruff! Our Families...Greggy, Jo Jo, Em, Micah, Baby Girl, Ben, Carly, Baby Boy, Holly, Ike.  Rick, LeeAnn, Ryan, Jessie, Eliza, Lilly, Brad, Kenzie, Brit, Michael, Katie, Jessica, David. Our dogs, Stella and Coda.  My car, Gwen. Our amazing Grandparents and other extended family. Our fantastic friends that we are so lucky to have so many of that I can't start to name everyone. A roof over our heads.  Jobs that we love. Food in our bellies. Laughter. Mountains. Road Trips. Snow. Christmas Music.  Swiffers. Thunder storms. Babies.  Chocolate.  Healthy bodies. Water. Warm clothes. Fires. Cell phones. Crafts. Ipad. Ibuprophen. Hand sanatizer. Pants. Camera. A sense of humor. Tears. My perfectly imperfect body. Sports.  Mac and Cheese.  Holidays. Hobby Lobby. Movies. KSL Classifieds. Life long friendships. Airplanes. The beach. Crock pots. Glitter. How I met your mother. Turkey. Golf. America. Money. Music. Make-up. Education. Amazon. People magazine. Costa Vida. Costco. Bikes. Skype. Books. Tithing. Bras. Insurance. Technology. The great outdoors. Air conditioning. Trials. Seasons. Weather. Tampons. Heaters. Diet Coke. Nail polish. Stars. Sunshine. Hot tubs. My five senses. My bed. And PAID HOLIDAY! Here's to a weekend full of family, food, friends, shopping, eating, shopping, eating, and sleeping in! Have a great Thanksgiving!
Happy Slapsgiving Everyone!

Summer is Funner!

This summer has been a dang BLAST!  Especially with the couple trips to Utah and Brittney living with us for a couple months.  Here's a little bit of our summer!
Brittney's boyfriend, Travis came out for a weekend so we cowboy'd up! We went horse back riding at a beautiful state park.  Brit wanted Travis to face his fear and get back on the horse since he was bucked off years ago.  It was my first time and I loved it!

 Later that day we went to the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert at the Mile High Stadium!

All of us...not looking at the camera...

Brit and Travis

Me and my handsome husband! So happy at his first country concert!

Yes, we do in fact have matching hats that we found at good will!

This is the lovely Tim McGraw commemorating the victims of the Theater Shooting.  This concert was the day after the shooting so it was a great little pick me up for Colorado.

It was really cool to see the stadium that the Broncos play at, since we won't be around for any games.  It was a great weekend! 
The next week I flew to Utah to babysit David and Jessica while my mother in law went on Trek with Katie and Michael.  We swam at the Lindon pool and the pool at our condo.  Those kids are fish!  We were there over the 24th of July so we went up the canyon a couple of times.  Once with their family (forgot my camera of course) and once with my family to cascade springs.  Needless to say.... we had a great time!

And a big bonus of the trip.. Mike and Amanda had their baby while I was there!!  I was SO happy he came early so I could see him before he was a month old!  Here he is!

ISN'T HE THE CUTEST!?!  

I love him already and I am so glad Amanda had such a good experience and that they are both healthy and happy! And I love his red hair!

I flew home on Saturday morning and then the following Thursday the three of us drove to Utah for Jessica's baptism and Michael's ordination to a Priest.  It was so great to be with the WHOLE family for the first time since Lilly was born (pictures to come).  We are so proud of Jessica's decision to be baptized!

THERE'S MORE!

After Michael's ordination on Sunday, we were planning on just leaving straight from the church to drive back to Denver.  Brittney only had 4 days of work left so she was going to be driving home alone that Friday.  She asked Katie if she wanted to come to Denver for the week so she wouldn't have to drive home by herself but Katie couldn't because of band camp.  So Brit asked Jessica if she would want to come with us.  After much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons (missing a birthday party) she decided to come!  It was a great opportunity for her to have a little vacation and to be able to see a new place.  We had so much fun all week, she wasn't ready to leave on Friday. 

The long car ride to Colorado!

Jessica and I went to Water World and she got her first cup of dippin dots!

We have a big resevoir and beach near our house so we took the kids on Brittney's last day.  This is Jessica's troll trap. She is running from the trolls I think.

 Thursday night, we all went to Dave and Busters for Brittney's going away party.  

It was a great end to the summer!

Yesterday was quite the sobering day.  I really want to thank our friends and family who checked in on us to make sure we were okay.  The theater shooting took place about 8 miles from our home in the city we live in.  It is comforting to know that we never have and probably never would go to a movie at that theater but it was still close to home. 
My sister in law, Brittney has been living with us this summer and went with some friends to the midnight showing of Batman.  Her friends were buying the tickets in advance and were going to buy tickets to the Century 16 theater because the tickets were about five dollars cheaper there.  For some reason, one friend said he thought they should go to a different theater because he heard it was a really cool.  I can't even describe the terror that went through mine and Woody's heads when we woke up to a text from his dad about what had happened.  Thankfully Brittney was asleep in her bed. 
Two things have been running through my mind all day.  Number one, I am SO grateful for the Spirit that spoke to one person who was in tune, and changed the fate of a whole group of friends, including Brittney.  Number two, tell the people in your life that you love them.  Life is short and we need to spend less time fighting, gossiping, and holding grudges, and more time laughing, playing, trusting, mending broken relationships, and making all sorts of amazing memories with the ones we love.
My heart breaks for the families of the victims of the shooting.  Watching the news this morning and seeing faces and hearing names and stories makes this whole thing so much more real. They were moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and friends who loved and were loved.  It really makes you step back a little and appreciate everything you have.  I can't even describe how grateful I feel right now.
Please keep the families of the victims and everyone who witnessed this horrific act in your thoughts and prayers.  I know everyone will make it through this tragedy like the ones in the past and be stronger from it, but they need a lot of prayers.

Shout out to the sisters!

I felt the need to give a big ole shout out to my sisters who also happen to be my very best friends in the whole entire universe!  I have no idea what I would do without them.  I can't even almost imagine life without these two fools.
First of all, my big sister Emily Jo.  She is THE big sister.  I feel bad for people like her who don't have big sisters like her.  She is the first born and couldn't be a better example to ALL of her siblings.  She is happy, spontaneous, very loving, super smart, driven, sarcastic, and hilarious!  I have very few memories of her ever being rude to me (besides when I did weird things in my sleep and she would laugh and me and make me furious).  She always took me under her wing, let me hang out with her and her friends, and taught me a lot.  I used to not like being the kid after her because she did everything so well.  But really, being the kid after her taught me how to be my own person and that everyone is good at different things and everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.  We are a lot a like and a lot different at the same time.  I couldn't ask for a better person to look to as an example throughout my whole life. 

Then there is the little sister of all little sisters!  Holly Rebecca!  For those of you who know her, know how amazingly creative and hilarious she is.  Although she is my little sister I still look up to her in so many ways.  She, also has taught me how to be your own person. She really doesn't care what people think and is so comfortable with who she is.  She is always laughing and having the time of her life no matter what she is doing.  When we were younger I was easily annoyed by her (probably how Emily felt about me but she was WAY more patient than I was).  She acted like a normal, annoying little sister but I wasn't as tolerant as I should have been.   The summer of 2007 I moved to Alaska for 5 months and when I got back I had a different sister.  I don't know what in the world happened over those 5 months but when I got home we became best friends.  She is 5 years younger than me but if you saw us together you would never know. 

I have learned so much from these two.  We have cried til we laughed and laughed til we cried (and peed a little).  They are the best friends I could ask for and I feel sad for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to meet them because everyone who knows them, loves them.  I think moving away from them was one of the hardest things I've done but it has made me realize how much I love and appreciate them.  I am certain that no matter where life takes us and what life throws at us, we will be there for each other through anything and everything.

It's a wonderful life!

I don't know why I haven't been in the mood to blog lately, I guess it is because I don't feel like anything really significant has happened recently.  But then I remember that this blog is really for me.  Not so much for anyone else as it is to help me remember things.  Even small things.  So here is the last month or so.
Woody's sister Brittney moved in with us for the summer to nanny for one of Woody's co-workers.  It has been way fun having her around!  The first week she was here, Holly and her bestie Jessy came out to visit! They stayed for a week and we had many an adventure!  I think Holly took most of the pictures because I stole these from her.

Holly and Jessy's first major league game!  Rockies vs. Astros

Atop the ferris wheel and Elitch Gardens.  We didn't do such a good job taking pictures this day.  But it was super fun!

No words.  She is special.

Antique shopping!

Jessy thoroughly enjoying her hot dog.

We went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and then ate at our favorite diner that we didn't know existed outside of St. George, Utah.  Boy were we wrong.  This was on the way back home.

Needless to say, Woody wanted to die all week.  Poor guy.

 Second... FATHER'S DAY!  I love my dad, like crazy!  I already wrote a big long blog about him in February for his birthday but he deserves another shout out!  He is my hero and I can't believe how lucky I am to have him as a father.  He has always had my best interest at heart and I know he trusts me and I can always trust him.  When Woody asked his permission to marry me,  my dad said, "Did you talk my daughter into marrying you? (yeah, it was a brutal 2 hours for Woody) and Woody said, "No, you wouldn't raise a daughter that could be talked into something like that".  And he was right.  My dad raised me pretty perfectly.  We never fought and hardly ever even disagreed.  He had my back in everything and taught me Gospel principles and life principles.  He taught me the importance of work, and the importance of play.  The other day Woody and I were talking about how a lot of kids either grow up with no work ethic and are lazy and just like to have fun or the opposite, they grow up and don't know how to have fun because they grew up in such a strict home.  I am grateful and he and I both grew up in homes where we were taught to work hard and play hard.  I have some fantastic memories of camping trips, fishing trips, day trips, and even just relaxing days at home with the family.  My dad never worked us too hard but thanks to him, I know how to work and I like to work.  He is the best man I know and I am so grateful for him in my life!

Isn't he a cutie!! Everyone loves Gregory James!

And last but not least, a shortie trip to Utah.  Woody had court for his antelope incident which ended very well.  They lowered it from a class A misdemeanor to a class C.  So it will only be on his record for 3 years as a domestic disturbance.  We also get most of our bail money back, so that is just peachy!  After court Woody headed off to the paintball war for a couple of days.  So we had a giant, much needed girls night!  We went to Wingers then headed back to Angie's to go swimming but ended up just talking for hours and hours!  It was so fun! I have the best friends on earth!

 The girls, minus Holly and Emily because they left before this picture.  Love them all!

In other news, my dad bought a scooter (he is that cool) and Holly and I took it on a ride.  We rode past Tyler's house and his jeep wasn't there, but then he drove in right as we were turning around!  I hadn't seen him since my wedding!  It was SOOO good to see him and his momma Nancy! I love them to death!  It is so nice to be able to see people I haven't seen in forever and we can pick up like not a day has gone by.  I love how no matter where life takes us, there are those few who you know will always be there when you come home.  

 ALSO, I finally got to talk to the lovely Suzette!! She stinking came home from her mission and moved to Alaska before I had a chance to see her.  She called me the other day and took my by complete surprise! It was such a good day! I miss her face and can't wait to see her in September!

That is pretty much the excitement that has been going on in our lives.  Oh and of course the lovely Forth of July yesterday.  We finally got to sleep in because Woody didn't have to work.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then saw the new Amazing Spiderman.  And it was just that...Amazing.  Most of Colorado banned fireworks because of the fire danger so we spend a lovely, very quiet night at home eating burgers and watching The Sandlot (best movie ever!)  It was a nice, relaxing holiday.  Better than I thought it would be, being away from family and friends.  Just grateful for my super cool husband and America!  I stinking love this place!  God Bless!