PHX Temple update

When I rounded the corner on to Pinnacle Peak, It took my breath away.

I hadn't seen it in a while, and right, it isn't in its pearly white glory yet, but look at it, it has a steeple!

 I reflected, as I sat looking at it , How strong the structure is and how long they have been working to build it so solid from the ground up. It has a true foundation, and strength throughout.
A little bit jealous. How nice would it be if we were all built so carefully! I imagine our hearts and souls would be as peaceful as the Celestial room is. Our world would be a much different place.

I took a close up of the men working on the temple and remembered stories and pictures of the old days and the men chiseling the rock that went into building the older Temples. The donkeys hauling to tools and people sacrificing their time to work on it.
I do stand in awe of those Temples, but I am thankful for modern technology and so excited for my Temple to be finished!

AQUA ZUMBA

 So I returned from my third summer in a  row abroad. Vacationing in amazing places, and eating amazing things and I looked at my self and ecided it was time to get real. As nice as it is to live in an endless state of vacation, at some point you have to realize it is not working for you.

 So I started taking Zumba classes.  If you arent familiar with Zumba, its a latin Dance/ exercise craze. Its tons of fun, and an amazing work out. I am a goal oriented person so I decided to set a goal of becoming an  instructor. I went to tons of different instructors to check it out and learned tons and I learned there was such a thing as aqua zumba. So cool! resistance and protection in the water.
I knew thats what I wanted to do.

 This is me at the begening of my summer vacation last year. In just 4 months of being certified (4 months of training to be certified) I lost 35 lbs. and not just a normal wieght loss, toned muscles, and tons of strength.

This was me towards the end of my vacation. I look pregnant. The food was good, but for the first time I can say I honestly love this form of exercise and I would never have invisioned myself an aerobic instructor, but its fun! Everyone who takes the class is shocked at how quickly 50 minutes flys by while you are splashing and singing and dancing!

I LOVE AQUA ZUMBA!

 

 

 

The smile in the middle

First week

7 months

Everyone likes before and afters. I do all these remodeling projects, and everyone is amazed at how great it looks in the end. So here is how the "mouth" re- model is going.
I am thankful for the change, it feels batter in my jaw and in my bite. I can not wait for them to be off though and be able to realy enjoy food again!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of crazy?

I have a good friend who reads my blog regularly and comments to me on how she enjoys it because its so up beat all the time and positive and happy. Well Marilee, you might want to skip this entry.

In the endless pursuit to figure out how many lickings you can take before you loose your mind, the U.S. Army has established to break Arlena Strode it is a deployment backed by a  1 year command, turning into another deployment that was both followed and preceded by 3 month TDY's, followed by an over seas assignment in a remote location ,immediately followed by yet another deployment (of which gets extended from 6 months to 12. We are currently at month  9)

When the first deployment started (not Dans first deployment, that was to Bosnia, but this rapid succession of insanity) I was still changing Paige's Diapers. She's in 5th grade now!

Countless sick children, band concerts, baseball game, dance recitals, weekends running like a nut with your shell loose, Surgery, endless house hold issues, car issues, parent teacher conference's, dinners made cleaned up, care packages sent and skyped in family prayers, balance the budget, drivers licenses,"stop hitting your brother", sitting in church as the only one with out an arm around your shoulder,birthday parties, high pressure callings, family trips- that do not include the Dad of the family, "clean your bed room before my head pops off my shoulders and spins around", washing machines busted, CA wants to know why we didn't file state tax in 2008, volunteering as every FRG, AFTB, and WTH, for every crazy COL.'s wife that comes along(all with a smile I might add), gymnastics meets, and practices,coaching issues,doctor appointments, Tricare poop, passports for 5 and pack out 100% alone, anniversaries,punishments and groundings, " I hate you Mom, I wish Dad was here", Dog, turtle, fish in the drain, registering vehicle that was over seas with no POA, Christmas alone, someone brought us an extra dog? Kid in a car accident, "your projects due tomorrow?" it's raining in our hall way,switch financial institutions,extended family "fun", "Whats for lunch?", did I mention I hate this stupid owl, nights alone, days alone, weeks, months, years..........