Fun pictures and update

Hello all! I thought I'd cheer you all up by showing you what Clay's hair looks like if he grows it out long enough:) These are from high school- no photoshop, no distortion, this is real. They are kind of fuzzy because they are from our cell phone, we took a picture of it from the scrapbook at Clay's parents house.
ha! I laugh everytime. The face is classic. Not to mention that mondo mane of hair.

Graduation- Clay says that it was actually quite long there, but to make the cap stay on, he had to shower, and right when he got out of the shower he had to put gel in his hair and then put his cap on so that the curls would dry around it all tight. That was the only way he could make it stay on!

Anywho, life has been good. Clay is going to go paintballing tonight- our friend Tyler is letting him borrow his stuff, so it wont cost a thing! How nice of him. Anyway, Clay's way stolked. He hasn't been paintballing in AGES. While he is gone, I will go over the Relief Society lesson for Sunday because I am subbing for my friend. When I accepted the request, I was not nervous at all. All of a sudden I am thinking things like, "WHAT!? I'm not qualified to teach these women!!! I'm going to look like a fool!" Hopefully that won't happen. I'm sure I'll feel better after I've read the lesson:)

Well, Clay is probably only 100 pages from finishing Breaking Dawn! I'm so proud of him! He is really enjoying the books, and I am LOVING him enjoying them. He is so smart too- he predicted SO much more before I did. He basically knew the whole book by the first couple hundred pages. He told me his predictions and it was all I could do to not burst into a huge smile. I just nodded my head and said, well I guess you'll see! I was so good at keeping it cool. Even Clay told me so, after he found out that he was right. It's so great to be able to talk to him about it all. So fun.

I painted some frames last night a burnt reddish color last night. They look GREAT! I'm so glad I did becuase it just adds so much to the room, in my opinion anyway. I'd take a picture but 1) I'm lazy, 2) BOTH our cameras don't work....UGH! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?!

Thats pretty much it! I just finished Gilmore Girls second season, and am on the third now. I turn it on when I'm cleaning, doing a craft like the frames last night, or simply tired and Clay is reading. I seem to NEVER get sick of them. Clay is constantly wondering how I can watch them over...and over...and over...hmmmm. I don't care. It brings peace to my soul.

Alright. I love you all! We applied to be managers at an apartment complex. But the way it was set up, we don't know which complex, we don't have the number, address, or email address of the owners, so we can't make any good impressions by following up on our application. It was set up so that we saw there was a management opening, and had to submit our resume. That's it. It's free rent, 2 bedroom apt, PLUS paid wage for any work you do. We realized we'd save $3000 by the time we left Rexburg if we got it! Totally worth another move in my opinion. So, who knows if we'll get it. We'll see.

Okay, back to reality.

Well, really- life is just not as fun when you aren't with your family, when you have to work and enjoy responsibilities, and once you've realized you've finished breaking dawn. This is my state right now. SO- I thought I'd recap all those fun memories. It's going to be a big one, so I just never felt like getting around to it until now- so here we go!

First things first. ARNOLD FAMILY REUNION '08! We were at Trillium Lake, OR. It is located at the base of Mt Hood. It was a beautiful area and I didn't get ONE mosquito bite! Perfect. We stayed 4 nights. I think I realized I really am only a 1 night camper kind of . I really enjoyed myself and everything- but I also enjoy getting a good nights rest...which I didn't exactly get ONCE! A humongo crow was screaming is crow call early early EARLY in the morning. Pretty much ALL of us wish we'd brought a gun. Really. It was that bad. But the first night, everyone was just getting there and getting set up. There were so many cute little kids- I loved it! Sometimes lots of kids can get overwhelming and annoying- but I just thought they were incredibly darling and just wanted some of my own. Well anyway- we sat around the camp fire, everyone else ate crab....I hate crab- everyone in my family LOVES it- my dad had cought 24 crabs in the ocean that very morning, so they were fresh as can be. I'm sure everyone loved them. Went to bed, woke up early from the crow, and we really just hung around! I think that we went to the lake that day- I didn't exactly get in...I floated around though. It really was a good lake, pretty warm for a lake- but it was windy! So, it was way cold if you touched the water and pulled out. Anyway, the next day I got in the lake because I didn't want to stink. I don't think it improved my situation much, to be honest with you! Well anyway- some events included making shirts, telling stories around the campfire, eating DELICIOUS food! Seriously, I ate way better on that camping trip than I have in like 2 years (since I've been married...hmmmm I should probably step it up a bit) going to the lake, megan teaching us salsa-way fun, and coloring with children. It was way fun, and just way nice to be around my entire family:) Here are some pictures.

THIS, is Miles. This was the first time I'd seen him. For those of you who don't know- this is my brothers little son. I absolutely fell INLOVE with him. He was so scrumptious and I just loved him to peices. Sometimes he was absolutely wonderful and happy with me.


Other times...not so happy...
We made t-shirts. It was lots of fun.

Clay drew Lightnight McQueen on his- looking off of my mom's tablecloth. Of course, it looked exactly like the pictures:)


Here is my bro and I posing...

Greg brought a tight rope, and I totally regret never doing it- but I saw pictures that my mom took when Clay did it. Megan said that Clay was the fastest to catch on. I'm not surprised....


On Monday we headed back to the coast. It was wonderful. We mostly just lazyed around- watched tv-lots of lost- we hooked my mom, grandparents, and sister... the last couple days were the jam packed ones:) Of course. This was the sunset we had the first night. Lovely!

On wends or thurs- we saw whales pretty close up. I couldn't snap a pic of when we could see them, but I thought it was funny how much Amy and Clay were enjoying it. They stayed for a loooong time looking in the telescope. I was fascinated... for about...mm...10 minutes? Once I see something, unless it is constantly changing- which it wasn't- I get bored quick. Anyway, here they are. So funny.

This is one of many nights. Clay eating crab. I just wanted to document it- people are treated like Kings at my house- all the crab you can eat, fresh from the ocean that day. My dad LOVES to fish and crab. Clay actually went fishing in the ocean one day...he threw up 3 times! Yikes! I felt bad for him. Unfortunately they didn't get any catch that day, but they got HUGE crabs, which Clay was way excited about.

This is Clay in my mom's green house. I wish I would've gotten a pic of the whole thing- it's awesome. But there is a little snake that hangs out there. Clay went in EVERY day to see if it would come out for him.

My Grandma and Grandpa got to come for a few days, that was really fun. I'm so glad they did- Here is a pic with my beautiful Grandma:)
Friday we went to Strawberry Hill. It is this place about 15 minutes from our place that has all these rocks and sea creatures sticking to them. I've finally decided, I like having other people go- but it freaks me right out. I know it's not that high up off the ground, and if I fell it'd be in the ocean or the sand, but I am just SUCH a scaredy cat! I am so scared to jump from rock to rock, even though Clay does it so delicately and easily- it isn't that easy for me. I lasted about 5-10 minutes and went back up to read my book on a bench. Much better. But here are some pics of the others enjoying it.
Can't you tell how much fun I was having?

This is typical of what you find. Tons of live starfish, tons of sea enenemies, clams, other randomness...

Clay started reading twilight when we were there. He actually really enjoyed it! I was so proud:) He is reading New Moon as I type.
My wonderful sister Megan did my hair for me! She is so kind. And so talented as well. Here is the before- my sister Amy insisted on me making a gross face...

Here is after!

I love it. I really like how there's nothing on my neck anymore- my workplace is very very hot during the day and I ALWAYS ended up putting my hair UP. We watched the Incredible Hulk the other night, and I must admit- I loved that girls hair. Long, think bangs. I kind of regretted cutting for a second. But it's passed. I still really like my hair.

On Saturday we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They had a new exhibit called "Odd Waters" and it was by far, the coolest exhibit I've ever seen. I've seen bats, turtles, crabs, all sorts of exhibits, and this outshot them by far. Too bad we didn't get any pics really of it. They were just crazy looking fish!

Here are a few of all of us.

Touching stations....okay- believe it or not, this took a great deal of faith for me to stick my hand in the water. I kid you not- my heart was beating really fast the whole time.

This is definitely the coolest of the NORMAL exhibits. The underwater tunnels. These are from the shark tunnel. So cool.

One of the last nights my sister, Megan, showed us how stinking cool she is by fire dancing for us. Here are some pics...

cool huh? She is so awesome! It made me want to do it so bad. It looked way fun.

Most of the time, Clay hung out with Mike...
They mostly played video games upstairs.

Here is just a random pic of Amy and I.
She got to stay with us all week! It was way fun. I wish though, that i'd taken a picture with my mom. It was so nice to be able to spend a week with my parents. I love them so much.
Well, on the way home- I re-realized how sweet my husband can be:) So I'll tell you the story. My mom and I both ordered Breaking Dawn from Walmart.com. WELL, it didn't come on saturday for my mom, so I was like...hmmm that's okay, I wasn't really planning on reading too much while I am here anyway. So Monday rolls around and my mom calls me on my way home, and says, "It didnt' come...." So I'm DEVESTATED of course. I was SO looking forward to getting home EARLY to READ! So I am thinking- well I could buy one and then try to sell the other...feeling guilty of spending money like that...and then it hit me. I could simply TAKE BACK, RETURN, the one from walmart when it did come! Well I told Clay this plan, absolutely ECSTATIC, and he was like...oooooookayyyy...rolling his eyes, of course. Well we figured we'd stop at the next walmart we see off the highway/interstate...whatever. Well we go, I'm so excited I could pee my pants, and they don't have it...uuuuuuuuggghhh. I couldn't hide my dissappointment. I was SO excited to be able to read the book all the way home. Well, my dear husband says, "Well we'll just stop at the next town again and see if they have it". So we think, well lets call my mom so that we can get the numbers of walmarts to see if they even have it first. She gives us 2 numbers of the next neighboring towns and we call, BOTH are sold out! UGH UGH UGH! It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't get my hopes WAY up. Well we go for a few more hours and are starving, see a target in one of the towns, look at each other in excitement (yes my husband was THAT sweet that he was getting excited WITH me) we pass the exit because we saw it too late...my husband gets off the next exit, turns around back onto the freeway so that we are backtracking in our treck home, and goes to target. Low and behold, BREAKING DAWN! YES! We were sooo excited. Me especially. I almost cried. Really, I think my eyes got moist. Half of my emotions were that my husband was being SO sweet to go from town to town, bear with my pathetic saddened face, and keep trying until we found a book for me. THEN- he didn't complain at all about driving the entire way home! I got in 200 pages by the time we got home. Wonderful huh?

Well, that's our trip in a nutshell. hehe. It's good to sleep in my own bed again though. Now I am working everyday...not really enjoying it at all...and getting to do whatever I want at nights! I like that part. School is in like...a month. How sad. Oh well. We are so close to being done! Love you all!!!!

Breaking Dawn- DON'T READ IF YOU'RE NOT FINISHED!

I'm sorry- I know everyone is being way nice saying, "Not going to say anything because I don't want to spoil anyone's surprise!" You know. Stuff like that- but I've had this in my head too long not to spout it off! I need to talk about it!

I REPEAT- EXIT THIS SCREEN IF YOU HAVEN'T READ, OR FINISHED BREAKING DAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






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Okay. All I can say is, WOW! I did NOT see that one coming. I don't think I could have EVER predicted how things turned out! All I know is, I LOVED IT! Oh, I just did.

1. Bella and Edward are perfect. I love their love for each other, I LOVE that their love for each other just burned into greater passion once they were both vampires, I just love them.
2. Jacob. Talk about tear your heart to pieces, sew them back together and bring peace to my soul. I know I'm dramatic, but I really did end up loving how Jacob's fate turned out. I can't wait to read the books over again and think about how it turned out. I must say though, I did predict that he had imprinted on Renesmee right when I found out he was downstairs still.
3. Renesmee. Oh dear. So the whole pregnancy is REALLY what took me by surprise. At first it was sickening, and I was thinking, "Is this really what this book is about? GOSH! This is NOT FUN!" I was really wondering what the heck was going to happen and it was all so confusing and gross and then she was born. It took a bit, but it was as though I was in their lives. She won me over too! By the end, I just loved her so much, it was like she reached out of the book to touch my cheek herself!
4. Bella being a vampire. I LOVED her special powers, her complete self-control, and her awesome abilities as a vampire. I just loved her jumping so far and being stronger than everyone! She was SO COOL. It made me want to be a vampire. But right as I typed that it felt wrong. I bet I would not have self control. AH! What am I SAYING?! All I mean is...I guess my life was meant to be spent as a mortal human:) hhhaa. Anyway- I loved it. I am completely fine with her being a vampire. She has a child, therefore motherhood, she has her lovely edward, and she has Jacob in the way that was always meant to be. A perfect protecting best friend who will protect and love her daughter in everyway!
5. Happily Ever After. Really. It is! Ah, I am happy! I am so curious of what others though of it.

I must admit, going through it really wasn't what I expected. I half didn't like it at some parts thinking, "ugh...where is this leading to?!?!?!" Or I was like- hmmm am I happy she's with Edward? But by the end, I was completely satisfied in every way.

YAY! Stephenie Meyer is great. I can't wait to see what comes of her in years to come. I soooooo hope she continues the Host and more and more and more.

Alright. Love to you all!

Breaking Dawn

Well, It was AMAZING!

HA- just kidding. LIKE I could get an early copy. Sorry- I'm a dork that thinks I am really funny. Anyway. I just thought I'd put a little post in because for some odd reason, this book is a HUGE part of my life right now. I can't stop thinking about it! I have a few predictions.

1. Stephenie Meyer said the wedding is at the beginning of the book and THAT is where all the trouble starts. I already figured this. I think that as they are walking down the aisle or whatever, Jacob will return.

2. I think THIS book is where the ultimate, EPIC fight between werewolf and vampire occurs.

3. I really still cannot predict who Bella will end up with. And honestly, I'm sure I'll be pleased with either one. Though, I think I will be more heart broken for EDWARD if she is with Jacob, simply because what else does he have left in life?!?!?! Jacob could move on, really. Edward however, no no. There is no other relationship for him. This kind of makes me want her to pick Edward. Stephenie Meyer said that it ends how she always wanted it to. THIS to me, means possibly Edward simply because originally, when she wrote Twilight, that was it. No contract, no nothing. She just wrote twilight, which had NO jacob relationship except for scrawny annoying little boy. YET, what if she always wanted Bella to be human? They do talk about that in Twilight, you know- Edward wants her to stay human. SO- at first I thought that comment meant that she will end up with Edward, BUT, then I realized that she could've always wanted her to be human. I DON'T KNOW! This is so unpredictable for me, I love it.

Well that's pretty much it. I know, WHAT a prediction. haha. Not. Anyway- hopefully I'll get to read a little bit here and there this weekend. I'm still in Oregon at my parents house for those of you who forgot. Hmmm. Anyway- I'm having a great time, I'll update with pics once I get home. I just wanted to post this before midnight tonight! OH- by the way, I probably wont post or comment until I'm done with the book. I don't want ANY spoilers. Love to you all!