in ARIZONA!

it’s official! life has now begun in the valley of the sun. what a nutty week it has been–so nutty that i won’t go into that right now. suffice it to say that moving is stressful and full of twists and unexpected turns. but we are here, mostly unpacked, and ready to rock the heat! although this week has been unseasonably cool. in fact, the second night here we had a rain storm all night. and here i was not expecting to see rain for another two years or more. 😉

i will say that i am delighted with our new home and backyard!!!! we can actually take more than two steps before hitting the fence. land ho! hallelujah!

we are still pinching ourselves that we have family all around and we don’t have to say goodbye anytime soon. it was also crazy to attend church and have people immediately recognize our last name instead of the usual explanation that indeed, the word “mask” can also be a surname.

dallin and ella are enjoying spending time with more cousins than they can count. and i am looking forward to hanging out with family and maybe even getting unpaid babysitters once in a while. 🙂 😉 🙂

here is a little peek of what we did this afternoon!

i recall writing as this year started, “perhaps this will be an adventurous year. in fact, i’m sure it will be.” interesting to think that i had little idea of things that have already come our way. but i am grateful to know it’s all part of the plan. a plan that is wiser than my own!

Ode to Valencia

One old
One new
Both loves of mine
These charming two

Two cities
Worlds apart
Yet quickly captured
My tender heart

If only to stay
Just a short time
My heart will return
Time after time

sending love, hugs, and much relaxation and pampering your way today.

love you, friend!

ok, you are all too sweet but yesterday’s picture was a stock photo of a lovely tummy. the belly you see today belongs to yours truly. 🙂

here’s hoping the babe isn’t too modest tomorrow!

any guesses?

we’ll keep you posted! 🙂

yes, there is no denying it. we have a full fledged two-year-old in our household. it seems almost eery that things took a definite turn towards that infamous “twohood” right on her birthday.

here’s just a little sample…we bring out the birthday cake lit with candles expecting joyful glee as we sing. but no, instead she bursts into a fit of screaming and waving her arms as if to say, “oh, get that thing out of my face!”

wait a minute, i thought you weren’t supposed to do that until you turned 30. 😉

in any case, her birthday was full of fun. i love my sassy little stinker!

well the word has officially been announced and to say the least, I’M SO STINKIN’ EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lemmee esplain…

i went out on a crazy limb this year and decided to enter the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame contest again. i realize that is pretty foreign to most everyone…so i’ll try to give you the scoop.
Creating Keepsakes is a scrapbook magazine and every year they have a BIG contest where you submit about 10 designed “layouts” as they call it. they have a set of criteria and judge it based on that. they choose the top 25 out of hundreds of submissions and the winners get a nifty prize and your stuff gets published in their magazine throughout the year.

so, anyhoo, i got a phone call on monday letting me know i was a “weeener.”

totally happy. giddy. pleased. and just thankful.

of course, i just entered for the free creams and lotions. hee hee. 😉

oh and if you are interested, here is the link to their website. they recorded my phone call. how embarassing is that? this is me: dar…dar…uh…buh…buh…bye…

1. grandma and grandpa are in town. yippee! they are taking advantage of one last trip to cali before we vacate the place. although they have fun here, i’m thinking they are breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t have to share the road with all of these “ca-razy” drivers.

2. disneyland today. let the party begin!

3. ella’s birthday tomorrow! my funny little leprachaun officially turns TWO. and i can already see the year ahead is going to be a doozy.

4. grandma’s birthday on sunday. you’d never know her age though! i think i have more wrinkles than she does. (nope, no botox involved) 🙂

5. i entered the same design contest again this year–creating keepsakes hall of fame. winners were originally supposed to be notified today but they pushed it back until monday. trying not to think too much about it. focus. focus. focus!

6. finally got the pictures from the Dominican Republic together. what an unforgettable trip. here are a few of my faves.

and the rest are here.

well, folks, i better stop calling arizona the lone and dreary world because it will be my home in just a short while. 🙂 the past few weeks have been a monumental whirlwind but somehow things have fallen into place at just the right time. we sold a house last weekend and bought a house this weekend!!

the house hunt was crazy. we decided on tuesday that we needed to get to arizona as soon as possible to find a home. we left late wednesday night and spent the next two days seeing more houses than i can even remember. talk about information overload. but there was one. just one. that felt like me. one where i felt happy. even giddy about living in arizona. and that, my friends, was the true miracle. we placed an offer on it in the nick of time. we got ours in before a few others that were coming later that day. they accepted. we signed. and drove back home all in a day.

here it is!!!!!

again, more miracles falling into place. i had a friend at church tell me today, “you know, my husband said it seems like the masks just expect miracles and so they happen.” i was taken aback by her comment. who me? i was very appreciative of such a thoughtful comment. yet i pondered it all day long. i can definitely say that my life does not work like this on a regular basis. but then i started thinking, why couldn’t it? just like we expected to see miracles out there on the streets of Spain. of course, i do believe that we must experience the bad along with the good. but i also believe that we can have the “but if not…” attitude. which to me in a nutshell is excercising the faith in God that he will deliver us or grant the righteous desires of our hearts but still trusting in Him even if it doesn’t turn out the way we planned.
i love this quote from that talk: “Men accomplish marvelous things by trusting in the Lord and keeping His commandments—by exercising faith even when they don’t know how the Lord is shaping them.”

so true.

for now, i will just acknowledge His hand in all of this. and record all these experiences so i can look back and remind myself. somehow i know my finite mind might forget this when challenges seem unbearable.

and with that i will end with a phrase jeff has been longing to hear, “yes, babe, i am thrilled to be living in arizona!”

(you can pick yourself up off the floor now, hun!) 🙂