Quick Update

Quick Updates on the Arizona Gunthers:

- Loving serving together in Nursery these days.  I'm also on the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration Committee for my ward as the seamstress/costume director.   My third calling is as the Girls Camp Director for my ward.  I'm gearing up for a wonderful summer!

- Justus is in his final (crossing our fingers) semester at ASU and will be graduating this year.  We're excited to see what this means for us and how it will affect our lives.

- I'm working as a Project Manager for a Commercial Construction company here in the valley.  I love it for many reasons, including the challenges.

- I'm still sewing up a storm and utilizing it as my way to deal with work stresses.  It's great to finish craft projects while I am working on a long term project at work.  It's just satisfying! (And therapeutic).

- Justus loves his bicycle parts and especially when he can find a great deal.  I can't complain, as I buy my fabric in the same way.  He uses the bicycles parts and I keep using the fabric!

- Other than that, we are pretty boring.  We love hanging out a home and with each other.  Hope you all are doing well!

Changing Service

Through a series of events and one large shift in our ward family, Justus and I are now serving as CTR 7 teachers!  Sadly we'll be out of town this upcoming Sunday.  We are really looking forward to teaching.  When we found out which class we were teaching, I was pleasantly surprised that I could name the kids that would be in our class off the top of my head (or at least 7 out of the 9, two are from the other ward we split into).  Wow, I guess I retained more knowledge from when I was serving as Primary President than I remembered!

It's a great, active class that I already love :)   I consider myself pretty lucky.

Girls Camp - Photo Dump

Great, amazing time at Girls Camp... if you'd like to join me through a "slideshow" you are more than welcome to scroll through the following pictures!

Instead of the Princess Pat, we sang the Princess Platt song :)

We had some "guest" news anchors

An added plus: Sarah got to come with our stake!  She had a blast and I am so glad we got to share this together!

I greatly enjoyed serving as a YCL Leader.  The young women are awesome and really stepped up to the challenge of serving as leaders to their fellow campers.  I kept saying how lucky I was to serve with them!  It was an honor and privilege.

Maybe next year???

And that's why they call me...

I know that I've posted a bit about this on Facebook, but wanted to share more here.  Over the past several years I've earned a few nicknames.  Each of them reflect a different time or project, or even person's favorite nickname. 

For example, "GG", stands for Granola Girl, which comes from one of my electrical contractors.  It came out of a conversation about how Justus and I love to camp and therefore I must be a "granola."

"The Devil Woman" came from a client's Safety Manager (and was completely sarcastic).  Consequently, "The Devil Woman" later turned into "El Diablo." 

"Fognozzle" is actually a part of a mechanical / plumbing system and is one Superintendent "K" loves to call me.

"Terrier" comes from my supervisor, who compares me to a terrier because I'll yip until something gets done.

"Huckleberry" is one that came from Superintendent "G" and I am very humble to have this nickname.  To be one’s huckleberry — usually as the phrase I’m your huckleberry — is to be just the right person for a given job, or a willing executor of some commission.

In other news, I've recently been given my own office and to help decorate it, one of the people in my office created the subway poster above.  I love it.  Now to find the perfect frame...

Memorial Day Mini Golf

We stole Sarah and Ryan for the day while Mom made preparations for their summer trip.  Golfland was busy, but not too bad and the weather cooperated.

One of the balls got stuck and we had to fish it out

And yes, I really posed for this picture :)

Anniversary Adventures - Pima Air & Space Museum

Yesterday, Justus and I celebrated our anniversary by going down to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.  Justus was in heaven as we walked up and down the rows and rows of aircraft.  If you didn't already know, Justus is a huge fan of airplanes.  He knows all sorts of facts, stories, and tid-bits about each model.

Our wedding reception was at the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Museum at Falcon Field.  It was great to celebrate our anniversary with aircraft.

We even had the chance to take pictures for the Neil Young tribute band, The Neil Deal.  An awesome group of guys, who were sooo nice.

We also took advantage of the cut-outs for the kids.

We even found a plane with our anniversary as its number.

Justus found a plane he had not seen in person, the English Electric Lightning and demanded that I take his picture with it.

I also learned more about flight including the terms for pivot, yaw, and roll.  I practiced on a few simulators.  You can see me shooting down some enemy in the below shot.  The puckering was from making "shooting" sounds.

Justus got to "fly" as well.  

I took so many shots of aircraft and I am excited to go through them!  There were a lot of cool art / graphics that were inspirational.

The most inspirational was finding my favorite air-craft, the P-51 Mustang.  Can you see the excitement in my face!  It was a great day!

A little service...

goes a long way...

As an introduction to this post, I merely want to document some of the happenings in our lives and so this is in no way intended to be a "my husband is awesome" post.  Although, I think he is VERY awesome.

This past weekend, Justus headed out early to join a group at Veteran's Oasis Park.  One of the scouters in our ward organized a service project to fill in a half mile long ditch with dirt.  It was hard work, full of shoveling and back bending. 

You can see Justus in the picture below, in the far right hand corner, he's the one with a Camelback on his back.

Happy faces of volunteers (Justus in on the back row, right side)

Justus always makes the effort to go and participate at all of our ward's Eagle Projects. Sometimes I wonder why he goes out of his way, pushing off homework and lesson preparations. Then I remember that this is one of the reasons I fell in love with him. He loves to serve those around him without a second thought.  I am grateful for his example of service.

Ryan's 12 - Photo Dump

 

Ryan turned 12 just in time for Easter Sunday.  He was lucky enough to have one of his uncles and Justus help ordain him as a Deacon.  If you cannot tell from these pictures, Ryan is quite the ham (and we wouldn't have it any other way!).

 

We even managed to get a photo of me...

Mao and Mao

Introducing... our new pets!

Alright, not really.  Our apartment complex has several stray cats.  When we lived on the West side of the complex we had all sorts of issues with the cats.  We often woke up in the middle of the night to cat fights or some poor cat wailing.  To be honest, they were annoying.

Shortly after we moved to the East end we noticed two cats frequented the area.  They tend to keep together and snuggle in the shade.  Justus thinks that they may be siblings.  Mao and Mao (that's what their meowing sounds like), are also friendly, there's been several times that they've attempted to follow us up to our apartment (in search of food most likely).  Justus and I think our downstairs neighbors may feed them, although we occasionally see a burst of feathers.

We've grown some-what attached to Mao and Mao.  Their "names" have evolved from "The Cats" to "Meow and Meow," to "Mao and Mao."

YW Girls Camp - Sweetness

In my random "nutshell" post I forgot to note that in addition to serving as a young women's advisor, I've been asked to serve as a Stake YCL leader for Girls Camp!  The past few months have been interesting and challenging to say the least.  I am so humbled by the other Stake YCL leaders (all of whom seem to have been YCL leaders for years!) and their dedication to the Young Women.

I get to work with the First Year YCLs and the First Year campers, too.  We're planning some fun, wonderful and spiritual activities.  It will be... wait for it... legendary!

I am so excited to go and am so happy that I have this privilege to go!

Nutshell

It is very polite for people in social gatherings to ask "what have you been up to lately?"  While it is very nice of people to ask and be genuinely interested, I am often puzzled as how to answer.  Ummm, nothing much...  It's no secret that Justus and I are "home bodies." We tend to jokingly describe ourselves as "boring."

So today I took a few moments and brainstormed a few responses to "save" for the next social gathering:

- Justus bought some new wheels and tires for his bike.  He continues to enjoy riding his bike to school and for exercise on his days off.  Recently he's been "building" wheels and is quite good at it.  If you need help with bicycles, give Justus a call.

- Justus survived another round of mid-terms last week.  We're hoping that we'll be able to say, "no more mid-terms" in the near future.

- I started a new quilt blog and am participating in a quilt group.  It's a wonderful group of ladies.

- I finished one of my first solo projects at work this past month.  It was crazy, stressful, and wonderful all at the same time.

- Our church had a cooking contest, a friendly competition of taste tests and trash talk.  Justus is an excellent cook, but the event conflicted with a huge week of mid-terms and projects at school.  Instead our family supported the event by "bedazzling" an apron for the winner.

Tangram Book - Fun project!

A very organized little four year-old had a birthday this week.  This adorable girl has always loved to organize her toys and more recently her clothes.  I wanted to make something for her birthday and I remembered a tutorial I had pinned from Sew Mama Sew.  A Tangram Book!  I had so much fun making this book and even more, the shapes. It came together so quickly, and gave me justification for keeping all of these fabric scraps!

Snow in the Valley of the Sun

Yesterday proved to be an awesome day!  I've been commuting to Tucson for a work project and was amazed to see it start to snow mid-day.  Then on my way home I heard reports of snow in Scottsdale (just a few miles East of Phoenix)!

Here is a picture of one of projects under snow!  This is just of the 101 and Via de Ventura in Scottsdale, AZ.  How cool is this?  It never snows here.  The phrase of the yesterday was: heck has frozen over.

Ssshhh Valentines Gift

Ssshhh! Ok, it's not really a surprise by any means, but I am really excited about the gift I got Justus for Valentines Day.

Justus loves rice and beans. He picked this up while living in Brazil for two years (serving a mission for our church).  Over the years of dating and marriage, he has told me several times how he dreams about having a pantry full of rice and beans.

So, in a small way, I am making his dreams come true.  I've bought serveral kinds of dry rice and beans and will wrap them up for him open with this note:

Think of the famous children's rhyme: Beans beans, they're good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you fart.  It's a small attempt to be funny.

Should I still play more with the rhyme?  Do you think it is funny?

Justus' Yam

This weekend I sent a quick email out to Justus' family with the subject: You know you're related to a dietician when...

 

We still participate in Bountiful Baskets almost every other week. This week we had a special treat: A huge yam! He felt like he was a cave man with a club. I know this is a silly post, but I loved this expression on Justus' face!

Quarter Mile Quilts Blog

Ok all, I've been thinking about this for a while... My blog has shifted more and more towards quilting lately and not as much as a source of family scrapbook.  With that in mind, I've created a second blog that will be dedicated more to my quilts.  You can find it here, at Quarter Mile Quilts. The web address is: http://quartermilequilts.blogspot.com/

This doesn't mean that I won't occassionally post finished projects here, especially as most of my quilts turn into gifts for others.  Quilting is a part of my life; I've just decided to focus more the important things here.

With all this said, please, please, please will someone promise to slap me on the backside of the head if I ever become an obnoxious blogger? Or too high and mighty for my quilts?  Virtual / over email slaps to head are welcomed as well.  If I'm already there, let me know.

Quarter Mile Quilts is named for my running days in high school and my love for quilting.  If you ran the 400 meter dash, you were referred to as a "quarter miler."  I have such fond memories of running the 400 while my coach was yelling "Come on, my little quarter miler!"

I've started a new quilt I'm calling Sea Glass.  If you're curious, check it out at the new blog.

Chelsea's Wedding

My cousin Chelsea got married over the holidays in the St. George Temple.  It was a special event and I am so glad I was able to attend.

 

A few days before she sent us a message inviting us to download the app Weddingsnap for her wedding.  It's a fun little app where you can take pictures on your phone and they're are automatically uploaded to the same site.  Chelsea had a projection screen up at her reception and it was fun to see pictures from different people. 

 

Most of the following are from snaps taken by my Uncle Garrin.  He had fun coaching people into different positions and "motivations."

 

Justus was told to look bored, he really had a fabulous time and also took me on the dance floor.

 

My cousin's husband Skyler "proposing" to my three year-old cousin, Sammy

 

Lisa, my awesome sister, and I doing "Charlies Angels"  I think I will be slightly sad when this pose loses it's ability to relate to younger generations

The beautiful Carli and Sarah.  Love these girls!

 

My little bro striking his pose

My cousin Chelsea and her new husband.  Congrats Chelsea!