Where should we end up?

After talking to a person yesterday who has traveled the world doing remarkable things, I felt enlightened. He said, "You're so lucky to be here in the Northwest. You can go to the beach, the mountain, the river, the lake, go hiking, eat at incredible restaurants- everything is at your fingertips." It's true, though. Everybody thinks of Portland or Seattle as cities with too much rain. Well, have you ever visited? Sure, it rains for 5 months during Winter, but because of the moisture, it's beautiful, like, stunningly beautiful for the other 7 months. Plus, just because it's rainy outside doesn't mean it's not sunny! And if you think about it, almost everywhere has a long period of "unwanted" weather. For example, when we lived in Las Vegas it was unbearably hot for 6 months a year. We had to stay inside! In Idaho, it snows for 6 months a year. So, in the NW it rains.
Wow, that was a tangent!

Anyway, the point is, after that conversation I haven't been able to stop thinking about all the choices I have. Dustin and I have the agency to raise our family wherever we want. We've been assuming that Idaho Falls is the perfect place for everyone to grow up. Now I'm not so sure.
First of all, before I start offending all the South-Eastern-Idahoans, I do have to say that Idaho Falls is a great place to live. For starters, there are tons of lakes, camping sites, beautiful mountains, and the best perk- our families. Our closest friends and family members live there. Lillie and Jack have cousins galore to play with on a regular basis! It's an amazing circle of support.

My only complaint is the lack of diversity. While I love being surrounded with people who have the same values and beliefs as I, I secretly miss all of the crazy, sometimes weird liberals that Portland has to offer. It's a breath of fresh air to go to a restaurant and observe how the world is (and also be the only table not drinking). I feel like there are plenty more opportunities to "stand out" and speak up about when I believe in. I love the idea of living in an area packed with more culture and hilarious bumper stickers than Idaho Falls. Plus, out here sidewalks and curbing come standard- a rare feature in SE Idaho.

Now, this doesn't mean we're moving to Vancouver, Washington for life. It doesn't have to be here. It could be Georgia, or Long Island, or DC, or conveniently Seattle. The only state I wouldn't consider is California (for reasons that WILL offend certain persons).
Obviously I will go wherever the work is. Currently Dustin's job is primarily located in Portland and we're residing in Vancouver. And, right now Dustin is waiting to hear back from 2 job interviews that are both located in Idaho. I would love for Dustin to get either job in Idaho- but if he doesn't, then we won't live there right now.

The truth is, I'm afraid of settling down. I feel like there are so many other places that would be fun to live in, so why Idaho?
But then again, why not Idaho?

The Flour Inncident

The day after arriving in Vancouver, I ran out of the room for about 2 minutes and came back to find this. Only 5 lbs of white all-purpose flour for me to spend the next 2 hours cleaning up. Enjoy!

Oh boy, it's a long one.

I thought you all would be interested to know that Elmo is getting potty trained. Because of his interest in this feat, he's also getting thrown in the washer quite often.

June was busy. I'm anticipating July to be even more packed with various events. June consisted of a few Birthday's, our anniversary, camping, Brycen's blessing, swimming, getting 2 teeth, Father's Day, and the never-ending trial of potty training. Here are a few (well, a lot of) pictures. The descriptions will be below the photograph.


To start June off, I found out that Jack loves getting his head scratched. Like, drools and zones out for minutes at a time. Here's Angie doing what Jack loves best.

For Julie's Birthday Party, Alli and I got together and made these cupcakes. Julie eats popcorn almost everynight and is an incredible bowler. The mini popcorn cupcakes are made simply out of white and yellow marshmallows. The bowling pins are a regular-sized cupcake with a mini cupcake stacked on top, then a doughnut hole stacked on top of the mini cupcake. To get the smooth finish we melted white frosting then dipped the assembled cupcakes.

For our 4th anniversary, we dropped both kids off at Aunt Dana's house for the night and took off camping. We both love camping, and both loved the idea of not spending hardly any money for our anniversary. Let me tell you, it was memorable. We were able to go see some waterfalls in Swan Valley, make s'mores, go shooting, and hike to some natural hot springs in the river around midnight. The more negative parts were coming in contact with the following: a million red carpenter ants, a snake, some ground squirrels, 15 mosquito's in my face at all times, a bat (that flew into me then flapped its wings in my hair), a very close skunk that Dustin threw a rock at, and a hiking trail-o-beetles. By the end of the night I was bawling.

Shootin' the 22.

Did I mention that we forgot firewood? After searching for a few minutes, Dustin took off his shoes, crossed the stream, and climbed up a cliff to retrieve a dead tree. What a man.

Here's the hot spring we soaked in for a while. It was pretty awesome.

To make up for the crizzapy camping attempt, the next night (Friday) we went to a quaint little restaurant in Idaho Falls called The Snake Bite, then met up with Eric Harker (who happened to be in town) for a night of bowling.

The top score is Dustin's, then Eric's, then mine.

Jack is always really happy and smiles on command. Here he is after a delicious dinner of peas and applesauce.

And... Jack finally got his first tooth at the late age of 8 months! Then 4 days later he got his second one.

On the last day of June, we picked up Alyse and went to the splash park in Rexburg. The girls had fun chasing each other around, Jack was very focused on the water, and I attempted to get a tan.

On July 1st, we packed up and headed off to Washington for a little while. Although we missed the Freedom Celebration in Idaho Falls, we had a very entertaining show put on in the cul-de-sac by our neighbor, Eric. After several unsuccessful attempts to blow out the street light with roman candles and large explosives, we sat and watched the guy get a little drunk and yell out each name of every firework about four times. The finale was entitled, "Kings Ransom! King's Ransom! King's Ransom, everybody! King's Ransom!!"

Age

I was married when I was only 19 years old. I met my future husband 2 weeks after I turned 19 and just knew he was the guy I wanted to be with. There was no reason to wait! Sure, I didn't talk to him about every single detail of my life, and no, I didn't learn about every single detail of his- but I knew what was important to me and he met all of those specifications. I didn't go to BYU-Idaho to get married. In fact, I took a 4 credit Mission Prep class at 7AM M-F because I've always desired to go on a mission. I had no plans on marrying anytime soon. However, after I met this one Dustin Miller my whole life instantly changed. It came as a shock. I never imagined myself getting married so young. Your life never goes the way you always thought it would- it ends up being better.
Since the day we were married on June 24th, 2006 (4 years ago) our relationship has only become stronger. Dustin's better than I ever thought he was and I don't think anyone else could make me happier. Dustin is smart, easy-going, humble, and very realistic. He doesn't care about material things and is a very hard worker.
I'm sure some people may have looked on our short, 4 month engagement and thought I was stupid, or that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. But no, YOU WERE WRONG. I listened to the spirit and made the most important decision of my life. I've never doubted my decision to marry Dustin.

I had Lillie in August of 2007. We both wanted lots of kids, and Lillie was the biggest blessing we've been given. I was only 20. Was I too young to be a mother? Was it a stupid, immature decision to try to get pregnant? No. Because unlike some of my other friends, I never thought living the cool single-life at a University where all I have to look forward to is getting a degree in something I won't want to do in 10 years and figuring out how I'm going to pay for my 7 dollar martini's that weekend. You can't say that a 4 year bachelors degree is better than the incredible responsibility of raising children. I'm not discouraging education by any means, but I often hear the false opinion about how if you have kids before you graduate that you're throwing your life away.
Well guess what?? I guess I threw my life away! Actually, I'm only 23 and though I have absolutely no idea what I want to "do" for a profession for the rest of my life, I've always known I wanted to be a mother. So until I narrow my majors down from culinary arts, English, music, or teaching (or maybe something I haven't even realized I enjoy yet), I'm going to try to be the best at the most influential role I can ever be, a mother. After all, I only get to do this for about 1/5th of my life. I'm going to put everything I can into it, enjoy it, and savor it. I've never heard anyone looking back on their life say, "I wish I would have worked more."

No. Age doesn't matter. If you don't get married until you're 45, then great. If you think that waiting to have kids until you're finished with your schooling and 3 years of experience is the responsible decision, than wait. Do whatever works for you. I did what works for me. I love my husband, I love my two beautiful children. I love being a mother. I'm only 23 and feel so blessed to be where I am right now.

33rd Place!

Yes friends, I finished. After a couple of months of training, I ran the Teton Dam Half Marathon on Saturday, June 12th at 7:30AM. It was about 5o degrees, 9 mph winds, and a lot of hills. I ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes- averaging 9 minute and 51 second minute miles. My goal was to finish between 2:15 and 2:17, so I was pretty shocked to find that I finished in only 2:09. My placeing was 33rd out of 77 for my age division (20-24 female).

I have the best husband. He woke up at 6:30, got himself and the kids ready (and fed), then drove up to Rexburg to cheer me on all morning. I saw him at mile marker 5, 7, 10, and of course the finish line. Lillie cheered really loud for me, too. I loved it. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge the battery in our camera, so I have no real pictures of me actually running. This could possibly be a good thing, because I'm not sure I look so great in my running action shots! The following pictures were taken about 3 minutes after I finished. Thanks Dana for bringing a working camera.

As you can see, my sister Dana ran it with me (or I ran it with her). She's so fast, even after having 5 kids she still pulled in a time of 1 hour and 51 minutes! She placed 3rd in her division. I'm so proud of her! We didn't really train together (obviously) due to the fact that she runs a lot faster than I can, but she still motivated me to even attempt this feat.

In the end:

I'm proud of myself. My left knee hurts. But, I accomplished something that I didn't realistically see myself ever doing. The last time I've ever ran 13 miles was with my good friend Michael Holt... and that was almost exactly 5 years ago. The training was hard (not gonna lie), but not impossible- just hard to get used to at first. I worked hard, woke up early, and pushed through it. It's hard to find time to run with 2 kids around!

I also have some people to thank: First of all, My Husband for his unconditional support. At times I was slightly offended when he almost forced me do my runs during the week, but he knows I'm a natural quitter. Couldn't have stayed motivated without him! Plus, he so willingly watched the kids for me, and even has driven out to find me about 1/2 hour into my long weekly runs just to bring me water.

Second, my sister. If she can find time to run with 5 kids, then I can.

And third, the cast of Glee. Couldn't have done it without you, all!

So.... I challenge all of YOU to make a goal and work hard to accomplish it. YOU can do it. While I was running around mile 11 or so on Saturday, I started thinking about what I was doing 6 months ago. Nothing. Jack was 2 months old and I specifically remember not working out and not even being able to run one mile. I mostly just sat around all day and considered my exercise walking around at Winco once a week, or nursing.

Moral of the Story:

Do it.

La-dee-la

So you would think with Dustin being unemployed that I have all this extra free time, but it's not true. Everyday has something different to offer. I'm in the middle of potty-training Lillie (which isn't as easy as I was hoping it would be), Dustin's spending a large portion of each day looking for work, I'm still training for this 1/2 marathon on Saturday (which takes up quite a bit of time), plus the regular day-to-day things that just need to be done. On top of that, Dustin has been fully maintaining his Grandma's yard plus the past 6 weeks. Also, Dustin and I have been doing huge "jobs" around the house in order to earn gas money to get to the family reunion in July (Pacific City, OR). We recently cleaned out the disgusting back garage. That took 2 days. We found disturbing amounts of dead mice, a couple of bird nests, cat pee, and risked disease by cleaning out the huge bird aviary room that, might I add, hasn't even been occupied by any birds for at least 12 years- yet had about 3 inches of bird seed on the floor covered in bird feces. Oh my gravy- it was disgusting. It's all nice and sanitary now. We ended up taking 3 loads of crap to the dump.
This past week we spent many hours scraping off the paint, then repainting this wooden canopy thingie in the back yard. It used to be white, but now is a pretty burnt orange color. It looks really clean and new especially with the pretty greenery behind and flowers all around.
We're also painting the trim and doors for the entire upstairs next week! It'll be hard work, but we've been tight on spending money and really needed to find a way to pay for this family reunion trip. It's nice to be independent and not have to rely on money from anyone else! Even at our poorest, we've always found a way to pay for every single bill and expense. Whether from me working, us selling plasma, selling items we don't need, doing odd-jobs, or whatever it be- we've thankfully never needed or asked for money from anyone else. I'm a firm believer that there's always a way to get more money if you really need it.
Besides that....
We never thought we would be unemployed for 5 months now! I guess you could say that I'm more than ready for Dustin to find work. He's putting in a lot of hours in the job search. He's applied to over 400 jobs in the past 5 months. He's getting frustrated and a little discouraged when he calls to check on the status of the application, only to hear from the HR rep that they've received over 200 applications for that one particular job posting. Ahhh! Whatever, he'll find something! He's been applying all over the country, too-- so if you hear about anything.....
Tomorrow's my big day! I'm running in the Teton Dam Half Marathon in Rexburg at 7:30AM. I'm a little nervous. My knees and ankles have been a little sore lately. My goal is to finish and to run the entire time. We'll see how it goes!

GLEE Volume 3

I haven't told very many people, but I'm running the Teton Dam Half Marathon in 2 weeks. I started running in February, did Insanity in March and April, then started running more seriously starting in May. I'll admit, I'm slow. But, I know that if I keep it up my pace will pick-up. Right now I'm running 4 days a week with 1 day of cross training. I usually only run 3-5 miles, then on Saturdays I run 8-11 miles.
Anyway, it's hard. I'm slow. But I really want to accomplish something grand in life, and this is my first step (well, besides getting married, having a beautiful family, and being sealed to my family for all eternity). I've decided that if I can do it, anyone can.
And how's the weight loss going?? I tried Insanity and ended up gaining a flipping 7 pounds. Retarded. But, I did increase my push-ups from a whopping 2 when I started to 25 when I ended. With running, however, I've lost 2 pounds. I need to lose about 12 more to be at the weight I was when I got married. However, I was only 19 when I got married, and I have had 2 kids since then... not sure if 10 pounds is in the cards for me, but whatever. Running is a great and fun activity and I currently have a perfect blood pressure score. Plus, I've almost got the latest Glee soundtrack memorized already. So even if I don't lose any weight, I'm still doing it.