First Day of Summer Break

On the first day of summer break.....

We got our garden ALL PLANTED!!

We played in the sprinklers!

And we made this mess! (warning:  This photo contains graphic images that may not be suitable for all audiences)

Sorry you had to see this folks. Just keepin' it real.

It's gonna be a long summer!

Last week of School!!

The last week of school was jam packed with fun filled activities. There was a field trip to the park, track and field day, pizza parties, hot dog parties, class programs, awards ceremonies and so much more.
Our kids have learned and grown so much this past year and will truly miss their teachers and friends.
They all came home with great report cards and high hopes for a fun summer break.
Farewell 1st grade, Hello 2nd grade!

Gratitude

On Wednesday night my Father-in-law had gone up to the family cabin near Durango, Co  ( he was by himself) . When he turned on the propane and went to light the water heater, the water heater exploded. The blast was so big it blew open the two stories above him from the basement and he could see the stars,thru the roof. It also blew out the block wall next to him. He tried to put the fire out but wasn't able to and sorrowfully he  watched  the entire cabin burn down. His brother was able to meet him up there and helped him get to town. He knew he was badly burned but he refused to go to the hospital and spent the night at his brothers house. The next morning he still would not go to the hospital. and started driving back to Florence,Az.  Adam's brothers all drove to our house Thursday morning and along with Adam went to go look for him on the road. They found him near Holbrook and followed him Until he pulled over to take a nap (if he knew they were following him, he never would have pulled over because he knew they would want to take him to the hospital.) As soon he pulled over they pulled up behind him and jumped into his car. His burns were very bad and they insisted that he go to the hospital but he stubbornly refused, They basically hijacked his car and drove him to the hospital. The back of his hands were burnt bad and his face was also burnt but not as bad as his hands. They took him to the hospital in Show low. There, Adam and his brothers were able to give him a blessing and he was transported by ambulance to the burn center in Phoenix.  He is currently still at the burn unit and is expected to recover completely.


When I hear the story of the blast, it is so obvious to me that Dad was truly protected. Many people have said that he shouldn't have survived. I have no doubt that angles saved his life that night and gratitude fills my heart. 

Time Stood Still May 29th 2001

Ten years ago today....
Adam and I went to the Temple together. It had become our weekly tradition.
This time, Adam put his arm around me in the chapel while we waited for our session to begin.
Later, in the Celestial room we sat together and held hands. I'm not sure how long we sat there, and it's hard to put into words the feelings we felt together in that room, but it seemed as though time stood still for us and there was no one in the room except for us. The Holy Ghost filled both of us with an indescribable sense of peace and happiness. And we both knew that we were on the right path.
 That was when I knew without a doubt that Adam was the one Heavenly Father wanted me to be with.
Oh Happy Day!!!

Fun Times May 27th & 28th

Ten years ago....
On Sunday we played games with my family at my parents house.
On Monday (Memorial day) we went to my Aunt Suzie's house for the annual Quist family B.B.Q and swim party. Afterwords, we went to another party at Adam's Aunt Anita and Uncle Tom's house. Adam's cousin Shane married one of my friends from H.S. Tacey. Tacey took my aside and asked me how things were going with Adam. I told her they were going great, but that Adam was sort of a slow mover (ya know.. physically).
She said  "Those Gurr boys are slow to make their first move, but once they do, hold on to your hat and get ready for the ride of your life cause they don't move slow for long!"
Umm..now I'm a little scared...or not. ;)

DTR (Define the Relationship) May 26th 2001

Ten years ago today......
Adam and I went out to eat at the Macaronni Grill.  After dinner we went to my cousin Jay's wedding reception. We held hands, so most of my family members were curious about the status of our relationship.
All I could tell them was that we were enjoying getting to know each other.... and I knew without a doubt that he was destined to be my Eternal Ccompanion!!  O.K. I didn't really say that. How could I when he was right there holding my hand. (But I was thinking it!)
When we pulled up to my apartment after the reception, we sat together for a while in the car and talked.  (Now before you go thinking it was inappropriate for us to be sitting together in a parked car...We were actually in his parents 15 passenger van with a two foot space between our seats. And come on... Adam barely started holding my hand just two days earlier. We weren't about to start making out.)
I knew there was something I needed to tell Adam before our relationship progressed much further. But I wasn't sure when I should say it.
So I simply told him that there was something he needed to know about me before he decided whether or not he wanted to start making this relationship a more permanent one.
He said I better tell him now then, because he'd already made that decision. And he reached over and took my hand.
Sigh... this would be harder than I thought.
Then I told him about all the doctors and specialists that I'd been seeing over the past couple of years. How they all said the same thing....That I'd never be able to bear children. I told him that I'd received priesthood blessings and was promised that I'd be a mother. But, well I just thought he should know, and I told him I wouldn't blame him a bit if he decided not to be with me anymore .
He gave my hand a squeeze, looked into my eyes and said "Thank you for sharing that with me, but it doesn't change a thing."
And from that moment on, we were officially "In a relationship".

Boating and Dinner May 25th 2001

Ten years ago today....
Adam and I went to the lake with some of his siblings. I was able to refine my skiing skills, but Adam's brother Richard said I looked like Big Bird when I skied (little punk!).
When we got back from the lake, Adam's sister Heather invited us to go out to dinner with her and her husband Gaelen. Heather was one of my good friends in high school and I knew she was hoping that we would be sister-in-laws someday. It was a fun date. We held hands. (Adam and I....Not Heather and I ) :)

It's About Time!! May 24th 2001

Ten years ago today....
Adam and I went to the temple together. Once again, While I didn't receive any major revelation or anything it just felt so natural to be in the temple with Adam.
Just before we left the temple grounds, on the walk back to my apartment, Adam turned to me and asked me if he could hold my hand. It was so sweet of him to ask, and I simply said "Yes".
We walked hand in hand to my apartment then we said goodnight and he went home.
Then I went into my apartment freaked out, did a happy dance and proceeded to call every one of my friends and my sister to inform them that "ADAM FINALLY HELD MY HAND!!!"
They all said the same thing..."It's about time!".

A Week (and a day) of Dates May 15-22, 2001

Ten years ago Adam and I started seeing each other every day.

On the 15th, we went to my younger brother Russ's choir concert. Afterword, Adam took me out to eat at Souper Salad then we hung out at his parents house for a bit. Adam asked me if I wanted to see the house he was building for himself. It was just up the road. His younger sister Stacy came along. While Adam was giving me the grand tour,  we came to an archway that separated the family room from the kitchen.  Stacey stood against the wall and excitedly said "You guys could measure your kids on this wall!"
There was dead silence for about 10 seconds while Stacey's face turned every shade of red and she looked apologetically at Adam.
"Wow, I love the kitchen!" was all I said. Then the tour commenced and we all acted like she never said a word. But to this day, we all remember the moment with clarity and laugh at the memory.

On the 16th, we attended the East Mesa Institute Closing social together. We played horse shoes, and ate B.B.Q.  but, what I remember most about the night was that when it was about time to go, we were at Adam's work truck and I guess he got thirsty because he lifted a 10 gallon water jug out of the back of the truck and with one hand held it up while he pressed the knob with his other hand and poured the water directly into his mouth. I remember this so clearly because Adam's bicep made a good impression on me.
Yeah.....His bicep was HUGE!

On the 17th, we went to the Temple together. On the walk back to my house (My apartment was less than a block from the Temple) Adam said "I'm the luckiest guy I know because I've gotten to spend time with you three nights in a row."  O.K. It was a cheesy thing to say and I don't think he intended it to rhyme, but It completely melted my heart.

On the 18th, we babysat my friend's two little boys so she and her husband could go the Temple.
 Adam didn't have to come along, but I'm glad he did. It gave me an opportunity to watch him interact with kids. He was great with them, and it was a fun night of watching movies and playing with cars.

On the 19th, we played games with Adam's Grandma and Grandpa Gurr. They taught me to play Liar's dice and at the end of the evening Adam's Grandpa yelled "Well Adam, have you kissed her yet!" I wanted to say "NO! And he hasn't even held my hand either!" Adam just turned bright red, chuckled and said quietly "No, not yet."  (He said YET!!!!)

On the 20th, (Sunday) we went to a combined Burk Family Home Evening with my extended family on my mothers side.  My family made it very clear that they really liked Adam and so many people took me aside and told me "Don't let this one get away". I'll do my best to hang on to him.

On the 21st, We went water skiing with the Gurrs for F.H.E. I was content to ride the tube but Adam's dad insisted that I try skiing. I didn't want to embarrass myself, but Adam's dad isn't someone you can say no too.
Here goes nothing......
Adam hopped into the water with me while I got situated with the ski's and Adam's dad gave me a few tips. Suddenly, before I knew it... I was up! I couldn't believe it! Sure, it was only for a few seconds but I'd never even gotten up before. I tried again and was able to stay up for a little longer that time! I'm a skier!!! With the water and the boat and the skis!! I skied!! His whole family was cheering for me! At that moment, I felt that HIS family was MY family. It was the best.

On the 22nd, We went out to eat with my Home teachers (and friends) the Boyles. They were an eccentric, zany, and fun couple. Before I agreed to go with them, I made them PROMISE me that they wouldn't say anything to inappropriate or embarrassing (which they were very likely to do) But, true to their word they were on their best behavior. They only slipped up a couple times, like when we got to their home she gave me a gift. It was a awesome vintage train case that matched some luggage I had. That wasn't embarrassing but she told me to open it, and inside was a book. I don't remember the exact title but it was something like " A Real Women's Guide to Planning a Wedding" I quickly dropped the book back in the case and shut it, but they got a pretty good chuckle out of it. Thanks guys.

By the end of those eight days, I was the luckiest girl I knew!

Take me out to the Ball Game!

The Trio have been having a blast playing baseball this year. It's fun for Adam and I as well. Watching a game is a lot like watching a comedy of errors. Their team "Storm" has won most of it's games, but we're not quite sure how.....Just luck I guess. We are proud of the way our kids have been doing their best and they are such great sports. They have all gotten a few good hits and have made some great friends on their team.

Caleb and Eliza love playing catcher. I think they are the cutest catchers ever!!

Go STORM!!!

YSA Camp Lo Mia Service Project May 11th & 12th 2001

Ten Years ago today....
I arrived at the Skyline seminary building armed with a sleeping bag and a backpack.
The plan was for everyone to meet at the seminary building. Then, we'd all carpool up to camp Lo Mia located in Pine AZ for a YSA conference and service project..
For a while it looked like I would be the the only one riding up with Adam in his truck. What a perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other even better and maybe this alone time would be the perfect setting for Adam to finally hold my hand!  But, just as we were about to leave the parking lot the driver of another car asked Adam if he had room for one more. Adam said we did, and a guy jumped out of the car and hopped in with us.
The good news was, I had to scoot over and sit right up next to Adam. The bad news was we wouldn't be having any deep, heartfelt conversations on the drive up.
As soon as we got to the camp I threw my stuff in the "girls cabin" and then went to help my grandparents prepare dinner. (Remember, they were the YSA advisers for the stake) They had driven up earlier in the day to get things set up. Before long, Adam was helping too. I loved the way Adam was always so concerned about my grandparents. He worried that my grandma was overdoing it, and after dinner he insisted that she go sit down and relax, while he took care of dinner clean up. I also noticed that while he was walking around camp, if he saw trash on the ground, or something out of place, he would simply pick it up, throw it away and take care of it. I could tell that this wasn't an act but that it was natural for him to take care of things and get things done.
The next morning, we drove over to the cabin we'd be working on that day. The cabin needed a concrete retaining wall built on one side of it to keep mud and water that ran down the mountain side away from the cabin walls.
Adam's experience and knowledge in the construction industry made him the natural leader for the job. He instructed the rest of us on how to dig the footing, and set the concrete forms for the wall. I couldn't help but notice what a hard worker he was. He was honestly the hardest worker I'd ever seen. When everyone else would stop for a break Adam would just keep working. I started bringing him drinks every once in a while because the weather was so hot and sunny and he wouldn't even take a break to get a drink. He did the hardest tasks himself, and was the last one to leave the job site. It felt so natural to be working side by side with him. I knew I was falling hard for him. In fact, when the cement  had set enough to remove the forms, I took a nail and secretly scratched our initials into the soft concrete.....A bold move considering we hadn't even held hands yet. ( Orchard camp, cabin nine, on the front end of the retaining wall down low if you brush some of the dirt away you can still see RQ + AG 2001)
By the end of the day we were exhausted. I was glad not to be driving, and on the ride home I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back of the seat. I woke up some time later and realised that my head was actually resting on Adam's shoulder. I quickly sat up and apologised. I was so embarrassed!!!
He said it was O.K. (Later he told me that he was about to fall asleep at the wheel but as soon as my head fell on his shoulder he was wide awake. He still had trouble focusing on the road, but for different reasons. He also said he was very glad that my head didn't fall to the shoulder of the guy on the other side of me.)
Once we got back to the valley, Adam went out of his way to drop the other guy off at his house before taking me back to my car. Once we were alone, Adam started telling me about his family's traditional week long trip to their little cabin in Silverton Colorado. He started stumbling over his words as he told me when they were going and how the girls would be sleeping in the travel trailer, and his mom said it wouldn't be inappropriate...and that he should...he could ask me....
Then it hit me... that in his adorable, bashful, awkward way Adam was inviting me to spend the week with him and family in Colorado!!! THIS WAS WAY BETTER THAN HIM HOLDING MY HAND!!!
Luckily, I had the entire summer off from teaching and I told him I would love to go!
Then, Adam asked me to come to a party later that evening at his parent's house for his brother-in-law who'd just graduated from ASU.
I don't remember a lot about that party except that at one point Adam's Uncle Marsh "Welcomed" me "to the Family".
Adam seemed a little embarrassed by the comment, but I didn't mind it one bit!

Institute and YSA May 8th and 9th 2001

Ten years ago today (and tomorrow)....
I joined Adam at his institute class and we talked for a while afterwords. He asked me if I'd go to The YSA activity they were having at the park the next night and he asked if I was planning on going to the overnight YSA Conference and service project at camp Lo Mia with his stake that weekend. I told him I was. (Well, I was now anyway.)
After the park activity the next night, Adam asked me if I wanted to go get some ice cream with him at DQ. I really wanted to but, I was there with my younger sister Amanda and I didn't want to leave her behind. I think he sensed my worry because he asked if Amanda wanted to come too. Then a couple of his buddy's got wind of our plans so it ended up being a group of us. Adam ended up paying for my Ice cream and Amanda's. I thought that was really sweet of him. I couldn't wait for that weekend!

Dinner with the Gurrs May 6th 2001

Ten years ago today.....
I went to the Gurr's home for Sunday dinner. When I arrived, Dinner wasn't quite ready so, I went into the kitchen and asked Deanna if she needed any help. She thanked me and handed some lettuce to chop for a salad. All the sudden I regretted asking to help her, not because I no longer wanted to help, but because I was worried that I would chop the lettuce all wrong. What if this were some kind of test?
  I knew how to chop lettuce but, what if I did it differently that she did. Would she think I didn't know how to cook if I chopped the lettuce to thick or too thin? Did she like her lettuce chopped a certain way? If I asked her how she wanted it chopped, would she think I was stupid? Would she think I was not good enough for her son if I only washed the lettuce for two min. rather than four? What if I insulted her by washing the lettuce, because maybe she already did and I just made her think it wasn't clean enough!!!
 I HATE LETTUCE!!!
Sigh....., I just ended up chopping it the way I usually did, and she seemed O.K. with it. Whew. From then on I would watch her do something for a minute (like chop the carrots), then ask if I could finish it for her.
Dinner was great (Thanks to my salad.) ;)
The conversation went along the same lines as the conversation around my parent's dinner table so that helped put me at ease.  After dinner, we played a few games.
All in all it was a fun night and I hoped that I'd made a good impression on his family because his family made a good impression on me.

Boating May 5th 2001

Ten years ago today...
Adam called and told me he was taking his brothers and sisters to the lake and asked if I wanted to come along.
Fun!!! I love the lake I was so excited to go. I drove out to Adam's parents house then we all rode to the lake together in Adam's parents van. It was fun getting to know Adam's siblings. At one point, Adam's brother Travis asked me if I liked seeing Scars and then showed me a HUGE scar on his leg from a buggy accident......It made me feel a little better about Ben's ringworm comment.
The lake was a blast. Adam's brother drove the boat for a bit while Adam wake boarded and let me just say...He looked REALLY good on that wake board!
Adam wanted to teach me to ski but I didn't want his brothers to hate me for taking up all of their skiing/wake boarding time. (I'd tried several times in the past to learn to ski but I was never able to get up) Frankly, I didn't want to embarrass myself. So I rode the tube and it was SO fun!
When we got back to the Gurr's house, Adam surprised me by asking if I would have Sunday dinner with his family the next day. I told him I'd be there. I was a little nervous to visit with his parent's  I'd heard a rumor that they usually didn't like anyone who dated their kids. Yikes!

Easter

We had a wonderful time visiting with our families this Easter.
On Friday afternoon we drove down to the valley.  The kids had no idea we were going.  We told them that we needed them to help find and load some scrap metal into Dad's trailer  (We already had a HUGE load of scrap metal to sell to a recycling company in the valley) We told them that we needed them to be ready to do a lot of hard work. We were almost to the Saguaro Lake turnoff when we finally told them where we were really going. They were SO excited!!

We had so much fun at the Anderson's house having a family B.B.Q. with all the Gurrs.
 Eliza and Caleb had a fun sleepover on the trampoline with  Braunsen and Jewellana. Sarah and Macey had a slumber party in the living room.

On Saturday The dads took the kids to a fun swimming pool in Chandler while Heather and I went running errands.

Saturday evening was spent with the Quists at my parents house. My mom has an Easter egg hunt for the Grand kids every year. The kids loved finding their eggs filled with treasures .

 After the Egg hunt we enjoyed an amazing ham dinner complete with funeral potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, jello, and salad.
YUMMY!!
After going to church with my parents on Sunday morning, we headed back up the mountain and were home by Sunday evening.
We love our families, and at Easter time we are especially grateful to our Savior who's atoning sacrifice and Resurrection, makes it possible for us to live with our families forever.

Mesa Temple May 4th 2001

Ten years ago today....
Adam and I went on a date to the Mesa Temple.
Earlier that week Adam called and asked if I wanted to go do an endowment session with him on Friday night. I told him that sounded great, as long as I could treat him to dinner afterwords for his Birthday. (His birthday is on the 2nd)
He agreed and it was a date.
It felt very natural to be in the temple with Adam. Nothing out of the ordinary happened...I mean, I didn't receive any major revelation or anything. But, I just remember feeling very peaceful and grateful that I was with Adam.
We went to Matta's for dinner, and while we were waiting for our food I asked Adam  about  his all time favorite birthday. (Since then I've learned that he's not a fan of Birthday attention.)  He said that his favorite birthday was the previous year, he and his parents went to the temple together then out to eat at Matta's. 
Then, he said "This year's birthday... is even better!" (Insert smile here!!!)