Happy Birthday to my mom. I can't imagine having another person in the whole wide world as my mother. Probably 'cause she's the only one I've ever had? I kid. I love her. I'm glad she's my mom!

As I type this, Devin's busying himself with getting all of the last-minute things done that he needs to do before he takes off for work in the morning. I'm sad to see him go.

I've got a lot of random stuff to report, so bear with me.

Sweetpea has made a huge breakthrough this week. She's started hanging out with us and she actually purred for me a little bit. That's huge news for our little retarded kitty.

Devin spent the evening fussing with spark plugs. What should have taken 20 minutes - an oil change and spark plug change - took him over three hours. Apparently, the Japanese engineers at Subaru are entirely too retarded and put the spark plugs in an inaccessible place where you actually have to jack up the motor block to get to them. After some choice words, and a lot of time, and a little bit of help from the internet, he finally tackled them.
Every time we tried to hike while he was gone, we got rained out. That sucked. I really wanted to go hiking with him since I'm not allowed to go hiking by myself. So... anyone wanna go hiking?

Our garden is coming along nicely. The snow peas are all up and growing and making me happy. The red romaine is up and looking lovely. The cilantro smells divine. The catnip is burgeoning. The beets got beaten down by hail, but a few survived. Same with the carrots, but there's still more than we'll eat. Spinach is coming along great too. Dev just planted tomatoes, so hopefully we'll have some good plants this spring.

Book signing at Changing Hands on Saturday for THE LIFE OF GLASS by Jillian Cantor which is a YA based in the AZ desert. Picking up Tiffany from the airport on Sunday. Going to a play with my mom in downtown Phoenix a week from Friday called Salem:1692.

Pertaining to the last post I wrote on here, I hate Relief Society. Every time I go, I feel like it's a huge fat slap in the face because I don't have kids. They need to rename it to Parenting Class. I mean, really. Don't get up there and complain about your days because you're a working mother. If you didn't want to be a working mother, then maybe you shouldn't have had children until you could afford them on one income? And then the gall that was the hand that shot up and told her that "All of us have been there." Well, no. Actually, we all haven't been there. And not all of us care to be either. So there. I got up and left about half way through. It was like we had this amazing opportunity to talk about agency and all we talked about was babies. Blah. Bad attitude? That's my middle name. OH! And they tried to have everyone hold hands during the recitation of the RS Theme. Um? This isn't Kumbaya, this is church. We don't touch each other in church. I don't touch people I don't know. AND, it's cold & flu season. Duh. You heard the part about them all having little rugrats right? Okay. Moving along.

I've been working on putting together a MONSTER birthday party for I Heart Monster. I have to say, some authors have been super generous and gifted me some awesome things. I'm grateful, and excited and am kinda overwhelmed by the amount of work I've got to get this thing off of the ground. But totally willing :o) 31 giveaways for 31 days. Make sure you stop by if you're interested... http://www.iheartmonster.com

And with that, here's what we're reading:
Shesten - My So Called Death by Stacey Jay

Devin - Crown of Vengeance by Stephen Zimmer

Oh, and psst. Devin posted a review over at IHM, and the author asked him if he could use quotes from Dev's review for the author's website. super cool, right?

Oh, and I made cupcakes in the toaster oven. *hee*

WARNING: Religious Struggle Talk Ahead... Just Skip It If You're Not Interested

I hesitate to write this in a public forum such as my blog, but, alas, it is truth, or at least my perception thereof, so I'm going for it. I've been a Mormon girl all of my life. I've sought out other religions and learned about them, but always returned to Mormonism. It makes sense to me. It answers some of my questions that other religions ignore. It's the right fit for me in my life. Those of you who know me well will know that I have struggled with my religion since I got married. It hasn't been so much a struggle of faith as a struggle of contexts, affiliations, and surroundings.

When we moved to Apache Junction, they put us in primary. That's a job teaching little kids. I have always hated little kids, never been the girl who was like, "Oo! Look! Babies!" I quit trying to get a degree in Education because I realized how much I hated kids. We were newlyweds, in a place where we knew no one but ourselves (Devin and I had moved from Mesa, where all of our friends still lived), and we were segregated from the general adult population because we spent all of our church time teaching children. We didn't make any friends or meet any people at church. We didn't have the opportunity to attend Sunday School together or to go to Priesthood or Relief Society where we could figure out what we were supposed to be doing as a newly married couple to keep spirituality in our lives. Nope. We were fighting with an autistic child, a child with Aspbergers syndrome, and at least two that had ADHD, oh and like three that were "normal" 8-year-olds. And, the leaders that we reported to didn't help us out at all either. When we needed substitutes, because I was sick, you know having cancer and all that, they told us to call someone, anyone. Well, we didn't know anyone to call because the only people we had met were in Primary too.

The older people in our ward would stop us in the halls and say things to us like, "When are you two going to have kids?" I took to responding, "I hate kids." or "I'm not able to have children." or "None of your stinking business." because no one got a) how rude it was to ask, b) how I really truly couldn't even try for at least 5 years and c) I'm snarky and bitter like that. Imagine the hurt that would have caused me if I was your typical baby-hungry Mormon girl!

We were not welcomed into our ward. We were ostracized and it seemed like no matter how much we tried to do the right thing, we were shunned. After we were released from our Primary duties, and were allowed to learn alongside the adults, Devin started doing fine. Me on the other hand? Not so much. Every time I raised my hand to add something to the discussion or to point out a different way of looking at an issue, I was rebuffed for my contribution. I was apparently perceived as stupid. That only irked me because I am not stupid, and when it comes to the religion I've been raised with, I have a better understanding than most thanks to a diligent mother who tirelessly bombarded us with the most boring Family Home Evening lessons. I've only recently become grateful for them and the knowledge they gave me.

I'm not the most outgoing person in the world. I'm content to sit in the back row on the corner, and leave as soon as Amen leaves the lips of the benediction bearer. So, not feeling welcomed or loved is probably at least half my fault. I'm willing to own that. But I can't tell you how many ward functions I attended alone and was alone throughout, with people avoiding me as much as possible. Like the one RS event on a Saturday that started an hour late when I was on time. I was leaving for St. Louis the next morning, and still had not only work to do for my job, but work to do at home before I left for the week-long 14-hour-a-day-minimum business trip. I had hoped that the little meeting on a Saturday morning would be a spiritual pick-me-up to help sustain me through the week, but it ended up being about parenting and the food they had was stuff I was allergic to or couldn't eat because of dietary restrictions. I'm sure that people thought I was being anti-social when I left as soon as it was over, but the truth was that I was hungry, and I had a lot of stuff to do, and I had just lost at least an hour in the day that I had not anticipated losing.

I remember vividly the Sunday when I lost it. We had been asked to teach the teens' Sunday School class, a calling that I loved, but Relief Society kept starting at least 5 minutes early, and I was consistently "late" even though I was there before the stated start time. Because we are in a small ward, there was one class for teens. So I was the only woman who wasn't in Sunday School with the adults that would be in Relief Society when that time came. After repeated times of me pointing out that RS was supposed to start at ten after, and not before, because of the freaking time being printed on the Sacrament program if for no other reason, I just got mad.

Then one Sunday, I walked in to RS, found a seat on the front row after they had again started early, and put my belongings on the floor next to my seat. They were handing out surveys about how and what we were interested in learning for Enrichment meeting. The person handing them out deliberately skipped me. That action concreted my feeling that not only was my opinion inconsequential, but my needs and interests irrelevant. I remember the feeling of utter defeat that came over me and felt my will to keep trying to be a part of this ward evaporate. I got up and left right in the middle of whatever they were doing and walked myself out behind the dumpster in the parking lot, where I promptly began to bawl my eyes out. I didn't just lose my composure that day, I lost my respect for the ward altogether, and my desire to be a part of its congregation. The memory of that event still makes me cry. It still hurts very much. And I'm totally not a crier.

After that, I felt so lost. I never did fit in our ward. I was a working girl who had a job with a lot of responsibility, who was tied to her Blackberry and all of the escape to work it offered. So I got lost in my berry when I was around these people who had hurt me so deeply. I tried to just be where I was supposed to be physically and escape to other places mentally. Smile. Nod. Pretend I care. Keep your mouth shut. Keep to yourself. Don't open up. Just be where you are. Text your brother to keep you entertained. Answer work email. Do what you're supposed to do. Be where you're supposed to be, if you can stand it.

Throw in at least four other events that made me feel sucky about myself (including a man in our ward calling me "cunt" and "bitch" who was subsequently assigned to be my home teacher), and I grew to hate my ward. I know I'm weird, different, and opinionated. But I'm okay with that; I like me. I don't need friends everywhere I go. I don't need people to coddle me. I just need people to accept me for who and what I am. Even people with the highest self-esteem don't like to feel shunned.

Now, the whole reason I gave you all of that background...

So I go to Sunday School last week. I feel impressed to raise my hand and share the thoughts that were going through my head. I did. No one told me I was wrong when I was right. No one dismissed me. No one made me feel stupid. For the first time in almost seven years, I felt like a contribution that I had made was not only considered, but accepted. And the teacher said, "Thank you." It felt so nice. It felt like church used to feel like in Barkley Ward. It felt like I was in a place where I could learn. I'm so glad I took off my baseball cap after Sacrament meeting and went back in to Sunday School.

Then this week, I was encouraged to speak up again. It felt nice and brought a smile to my face. People said Hi to me. At least three people! Someone sat down next to me in Sunday School (there are usually at least two seats on each side of me) when there was a whole row of empty seats. I went past the RS room, a place I've been avoiding for a while, and I was given a huge hug and asked how I was doing. I was welcomed. I felt loved. And after seven years of feeling lousy all Sunday long because of either my experience at church or lack thereof because I couldn't bring myself to go, it felt amazing to sort of fit in to my own little spot.

I wrote this entry for a few reasons:

1. I want to remember how it felt.
2. I'm not confident that the feeling of acceptance and love will stay. Given my past experiences with this ward, I'm not counting on it, but I am hopeful, so I'm writing a reminder.
3. I hope that someone else out there can benefit from this. No matter how much you hate the ward you're in, maybe someday, someone will accept you.
4. I have a tendency to hold grudges. Maybe getting this out there will help me let go a little bit. I dunno, maybe it will exacerbate the problem. Worth a try I suppose.

What We're Reading:

Shesten: The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

Devin: Demon's Bane by David Douglas

This Is How My Morning Went:

Snapdragyn: Hey, guys, Mom's been sleeping since like midnight and she hasn't even stirred.

Larkspyr: Yeah, so what?

Wynk: Shut up! I'm sleeping.

Snapdragyn: Wait! Wait! Guys. Don't you want some attention? I know I do.

Munchie: Dude, yeah. I'm tired of sleeping. Let's get something going.

Snapdragyn: Hey Sweetpea?

Sweetpea:

Snapdragyn: She's ignoring us again. Forget her. So, Munch, what should we do?

Munchie: I think I might be able to wake her up if I find a piece of paper and crinkle it for like, I dunno, ten minutes?

Snapdragyn: I think you've gotta do something better than that.

Wynk: Hey guys. Shut up! I'm sleeping over here. Or at least I was trying to.

Snapdragyn: Eat it, wussie girl.

Munchie: I've got a plan. Leave this to me.

Wynk: Why do you want to wake Mom up? Sleep is good!

Snapdragyn & Munchie in unison: PETS!

Larkspyr: Pets? Oh, pets! I love pets.

Wynk: Ahhhh. I get it.

Munchie: Follow my lead.

*BANG* *SLAP* *DOOR NOISES* *THUMP* *SLIDE* *CRINKLE* *BANG* *BANG*

Snapdragyn: Meow. Purr. Meow. Purr.

Wynk: *Scratch* Purr. Purr. Purr. Purr. Purr. Purr. Purr.

Larkspyr: Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Pet me, dang it! MEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!

Shesten: *eyes pop open* *reaches for phone and weapon* *listens*

Snapdragyn: *runs to find Munchie* Munchie! Keep it up! It's working! *runs back to Mom*

Wynk: Meow. Let me under the covers, now!

Snapdragyn: Please pet me mom, it's been over four hours since you've pet me.

Wynk: Come on! Let me under the covers!

Larkspyr: Uh, Mom? I'm sitting by your head and you're not paying attention to me, so I'm going to meow louder until you find a hand to pet me with and an arm to keep me warm.

Wynk: COME ON! UNDER COVERS NOW!

Shesten: *lets Wynk under the covers.* *pets Spyrrie*

Wynk: This sucks. You're not nearly as warm as papa. Let me outta the covers now, or I'll scratch you. *gets out of covers*

Munchie: *BANG!* *SKID* *SCRATCH* *SCRATCH* *SCRATCH* *SCRATCH* *SCRATCH* *SCRATCH*

Shesten: *puts down weapon* *turns on light*

Snapdragyn: Hooray! It worked! She's up! Hi Mom. Pet me, won't you? It was my idea after all.

Shesten: *pets Snapdragyn*

Munchie: Hey! I'm missing out on all of the love. *sits on Mom's hips*

Wynk: But it's cold out here. Warm Mom is better than nothing. LET ME UNDER THE COVERS AGAIN. NOW!!!!

Munchie: purr. *stares at Snapdragyn* Don't even think about it be-otch. You already got pets.

Snapdragyn: Get off of her. She's mine. I was here first before all of you novices were born in the closet.

Munchie: I was not born in the closet, whore. I was born on the streets. In the ghetto. I WILL cut you.

Snapdragyn: Sorry Munchie. I mean, I really don't want to start a feud with you. You'll go all ninja on my butt. No hard feelings?

Munchie: *stares Snappy down*

Shesten: *gets her phone, starts reading email* *ignores all four cats* *gets out of bed* Sorry, guys, I guess if you wanted attention, you should have waited until I was awake. You can suck it. Stay in bed, get up and play, I don't care, but leave me alone. I'm mad at you, all four of you. Sweetpea? Where are you baby girl? You get treats. *heads to laptop to write down the account before she forgets it*

Lesson learned? They probably didn't learn a thing. They're felines and they generally get what they want. My sole purpose is to fulfill their every whim. I mean, dogs have masters. Cats have minions. It must be hard for five cats to share one minion though. Imagine the drama that goes on that I just can't understand!

What We're Reading:

Shesten - Beautiful Dead Vol. 1 Jonas by Eden Maguire

Devin - Demon's Bane by David Douglas.

Looking Back At My Elementary School Years

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day and talking about things I remember from school. She suggested that I write them down so that I don't forget them and add to them as I go along. I thought, hmmm... I'll blog them. At least I'll know where they are that way.

Kindergarten: My teacher was Mrs. Pace. I don't remember much, but I do remember that she broke her ankle and that we all fought over who could help her. I also remember that we drew letters in the sand in stations. I also remember walking into the bathrooms, taking a look at them, and vowing to never use the restroom at school, ever. Guess what? I didn't.

First Grade: Mrs. Brown. I remember that she wrote people's names on the board. Every day that you didn't get your name on the board was a day you got a star and that you got to redeem your stars for prizes at the end of the week.

A coloring assignment. I think it was pilgrims. I thought it was stupid. What a waste of my valuable learning time to be spent coloring. Of all things! So I 'abstracted' it by scribbling all over it. She made me redo it. I made an even bigger mess with the crayons, so she wrote my name on the board. I hated her for that. But overall, I actually really loved her.

I remember "learning" to count change and tell time, both of which I already knew how to do because of the restaurant, and being bored because of it.

I remember creating an insurance policy for my spelling test. I knew all of the words, but was scared I would forget them. So I put them on a slip of paper and taped it inside my desk. I got caught. It was stupid. I knew how to spell them, I did the cheat-sheet from memory, so I was just creating a way for me to get the credit I deserved if I got anxious. Too bad she didn't see it that way.

I remember having pen pals that we did awesome cool creative exchanges with, but sadly, I do not remember mine's name.

I remember getting mono from the drinking fountain (because in first grade, boys were totally gross. I promise it wasn't from kissing. Cross my heart. Hope to die. blah blah blah) and missing school for three weeks. I remember begging my parents to let me go back to school even when I didn't feel 100% because I was the nerdy kid that liked school. Still am.

Second Grade: Mrs. Meldrum. I remember that she had Good Bucks as a reward system. We got them for various things and could redeem them for goodies come prize redemption time.

I remember that we had Me, Myself, and I posters and that everyone got to do one throughout the year. But when it came time for mine, the distributor ran out of the posters and I didn't get to do one. I was heartbroken and bitter, and still am to this day.

Class was in a portable I think.

Third grade: Mrs. Gilbertson. Mrs. Gilbertson had a lot of books in her classroom. I remember thinking, wow, that's a lot of cool books, but never reading them because I was too busy assigning myself extra homework.

Mrs. Gilbertson used to sing with us. She had a ukulele and we sang all kinds of fun stuff while sitting Indian style on the ground in front of her. I remember finding a wart on my knee one time and picking it off. She warned me not to do it again, but I did anyway, and continued to do so all year until it went away. I still have a scar.

I think my very first report was in third grade. I had to give an oral presentation on cacti. My mom and dad helped me get all of the stuff I needed to make the presentation, but I did it on my own, and really loved it. I don't know why I became terrified of public speaking later on.

Fourth Grade: We started the year with this AWFUL substitute that we had for six weeks before Mrs. Tumey got back from having her baby. I HATED her. I sabotaged her every chance I got and disrespected her constantly. I rationalized it by telling myself it wasn't my fault that she was stupid.

I remember that my mom broker her ankle while I had that evil substitute and that she did our class parties sitting down for a couple of them.

This was the year that I somehow obtained a love for the environment and protecting it. I remember using my portion of whatever the time I hated after lunch was called to create presentations for my classmates on why we should save the planet.

Mrs. Tumey

Fifth Grade: Miss Hannum without a doubt was the best teacher I had in elementary school. I learned so much from her. Not just about education, but about life and passion for it. She didn't talk down to us, but expected us to act and behave like adults.

There were three of us in an accelerated reading group led by her student teacher. I think Marissa Dorny was one of them, but am not positive. I can't remember who else was in that group with us when we read Jane Eyre. I HATED Jane Eyre. And to this day, even having read it as an adult, pretty much despise anything written by either Bronte sister.

I remember that Miss Hannum had just gotten back from a huge trip to Europe and that I learned from her that I wanted to go to Europe some day. Some day, I will.

I remember my social studies book too for some reason. It was teal and had a gold foil picture of King Tut's sarcophagus on it.

Sixth Grade: I pretty much remember drama from sixth grade in Mrs. Heckler's class. Her hubbie was an air traffic controller and I wanted to do a project on radar, and so she brought me some materials on it. But then she took them back because she said they were too advanced for me. That pissed me off. I actually understood what the manuals were saying. Who was she to tell me what I understood and what I didn't?

I remember a lot of friend drama too that year with Kristen Hager (who was my next door neighbor) and April Natzke. But yeah, that's about it.

I remember the first principal we had at Lindbergh was Mrs. Hogan. She wasn't very nice. Or at least that was my impression of her. Dr. Streets, however, was the most awesomest principal I'd ever heard of and all of my other principals and deans pale in comparison to him and his knack for getting us to love school and follow the rules at the same time.

That's Elementary for you... I'll probably do another post on Junior High and then another on High School. Feel free to laugh. I know I did as I was writing it! I hope to sit Devin down and do something similar with him for posterity's sake, but only if I'm lucky enough to get him to sit still for long enough and remember school. He hated it soooooo much.

Christmas Cards Are Coming To Town

Dude, I know it's been a while since I posted. I'm bad at the bloggage apparently. But, I thought I'd let you know that Christmas cards will be coming... they'll just be a little late. If you don't usually get an Xmas card from us, and want to, email me using the button on the side over there. I'll make sure you get one next year. As for this year, you'll have to be content with the copy and paste of our Christmas letter toward the bottom of this post.

Last night was our annual Christmas Ornament Exchange. We had fun. This year, Scott and Bethani participated from Texas which was admittedly a little awkward since we had to take pictures of their ornaments and send them to them. Devin & I, Mom & Dad, Rett, Kevin, Seth & Chelsey, Brent & Desiree, and Jen who stood in for Stephen and is totally invited next year, were there. I got a smashing awesome Lenore ornament from my dad. Here are some pictures of the event:

What We're Reading:

Devin's Not Reading A Book Right Now

Shesten: Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

Website of the Week:

Our Christmas Letter (but cooler 'cause it's hyperlinked to this blog where you can see photos and whatnot):

Well hello there friends, family, and anyone else lucky enough to be reading this letter... yeah, you there, the person reading this on our relatives' wall. It's okay, you can keep reading, we just had to call you out on it. We have survived another year. Devin just turned 30 and Shesten 28, and we are just feeling old. Geez, where did our twenties go? We kinda wish they had been all like this year has been... 'cause we've had way too much legal fun.

In January, we went to Tucson for a weekend using our handy dandy Starwood points leftover from Shesten's Ticketmaster event planning days. We hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more, and bought ourselves a National Parks Pass that we've gotten a lot of use out of (which you will see). We went to Sabino Canyon and hiked to the Seven Falls. We hiked through Saguaro National Park. We visited Kartchner Caverns State Park which is one of the coolest cave systems we've ever seen. We visited the San Xavier del Bac Mission. We had a lot of fun that weekend in Tucson.

In February, Shesten planned a trip to Bryce Canyon, and that's about all that happened of note. Oh, and if you haven't see the way that Shesten plans trips, then you wouldn't realize how much effort she puts into them and why planning a trip can actually be noteworthy...

In March, we went to Bryce Canyon and even though it snowed while we were there, we still did all of the hikes that we could... yeah, in the snow. It was really fun, and we didn't even freeze to death (Shesten thought we might!). We went on through Southern Utah and hit Kodachrome Basin State Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Capitol Reef National Park. We had so much fun on our hike on the Navajo Loop through the snow in Bryce Canyon; it's one of our most memorable events of the year. Oh, and in March, Shesten started her book blog. More about that later, gator.

In April, we took a trip down to Aravaipa Canyon in Southern Arizona. We hiked through the water with our sandals and took all kinds of beautiful pictures. We loved it! We went to the Easter Pageant at the Temple and Shesten got a Dell Mini laptop.

In May, Shesten dyed parts of her hair blue. Yes, blue. You read that right. She went to the salon and had them bleach out some streaks and dye them plain old bold blue. In the middle of the process, when she had blonde streaks that were not blue quite yet, we took a trip to Yosemite National Park. Such a beautiful park. We climbed waterfalls and camped in the National Forest. We also bought a new car for Devin - a Subaru Forester XT (and yes, that XT part is waaaay important, just ask him! {the T stands for Turbo}) for work because the Focus just didn't cut it on the roads he worked on anymore. We still have the Focus, btw, it's in our driveway with expired Wyoming plates. You know you wanna buy it.

In June, we took a megatron roadtrip. Shesten flew to Salt Lake City, where Devin and our friends Kris & Britta picked her up.(Kris & Britta live in Rock Springs, WY, and Devin and Kris have been friends for like ever) We started by visiting Dinosaur National Park on the Utah side and doing some trixy false hobbity things like climbing where we weren't supposed to. Just don't show this letter to a Park Ranger and we're good, mmmkay? We ventured on toward Craig, CO, where we stopped for the night because it got way too late for us. Then we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. Then after getting snowed on at 13,000 feet in the park, we headed to Nebraska. There we stayed the night in Scottsbluff, and hit the Monument the next day that bears the same name. We went to South Dakota next where we did the Rushmore and the Jewel Cave and the Wind Caves. All of those were amazing. Then we went to Wyoming and did Devil's Tower. Then we stopped off in Glenrock, so that Devin could do some training stuff for work. Then, just Devin & Shesten went on to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, and Devin dropped Shesten back off at Salt Lake City for her flight. We had such a great trip, and if you're interested, there are photos on Shesten's Facebook and our blog.

In July, we recovered from our trip in June. No really. We did. In August, Devin got to go up to Tensleep (that's in Wyoming, in case you were wondering, in the Bighorn Mountains) with his family for a kind of reunion. Shesten missed out, but everyone else had a blast. Devin caught about 200 fish, and had a great time catching grasshoppers for Serena, his favorite sis-in-law.

In September, Shesten visited Wyoming for a bit. It was a fun trip and we finally got the Forester registered (yeah, don't buy a car in Arizona and try to register it in Wyoming... the two states do not play nice with each other). We even got to be in the G.Rock (as Shesten affectionately refers to it, but like, no one else does) for Homecoming! It was fun for Devin to see a few people he hadn't seen for a long time. We didn't do much because of the whole car registration thing, but we did spend some quality time with Devin's family, and had a good time doing that.

In October, Shesten got to go with her grandmother and her grandmother's three sisters to Disneyland. Shesten's grandma hadn't ever been to Disneyland before, so it was a really fun experience. Each of the sisters were allowed to bring a daughter and a granddaughter. Shesten is the only granddaughter that went, period, and she felt privileged to be able to have the experiences that she had with them. They did Disneyland and Newport Beach with the sisters, and then some of the cousins went on and did some Hollywood/LA type things. We had so much fun, and built so many memories, the three weeks it took Shesten to recover from the trip were totally worth it. Seriously. Shesten got to build some relationships and even got to meet a cousin (Hi Charlene!) she hadn't ever met before. Fun, fun, fun times. (Oh, and P.S. for those of you that were on the trip, you're so totally FIRED.)

In November, we had Shesten's birthday and celebrated Devin's birthday because he had to be at work for his. Like we said above, we are starting to feel old. This year, Devin has done a lot of work around the house. Yeah, we're still in Arizona (and all of our stuff is in storage in Wyoming!), and we will be for the foreseeable future because the housing market. just. sucks. They're predicting it won't bottom out down here until like 2011, so who knows how much longer we'll be stuck in our cute little house. Shesten has been blogging, a lot. She loves to blog about her books, and has even had publishers start to send her books for review. She reviews mostly YA, but also does some nonfiction and adult stuff too. Yes, she's got recommendations if you need them.

We've had a great year, and we hope that you have too. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to take a trip to see Shesten's family in Ohio... we were totally going to do that this year, but things just didn't work out the way we wanted them to. We started a goal this year to hike in the lower 48 states over the next ten years. With almost 1 year down, we've crossed off 8 states. We'd love to hear about how you and your family are doing, and would love to talk to you on the phone or connect with you on Facebook, or whatever. We care enough to send you a Christmas card, so we definitely would love to hear from you. Here are our dets:

We hope your year is filled with joy and not pain. Love, Devin & Shesten, Snapdragyn, Wynk, Larkspyr, Sweetpea, & Munchie

Precipitation & Wind

Precipitation and wind. That's what we've had lately. In Arizona, there was rain and wind, and kitties and I got hammered a couple of nights. The cats don't like the wind, but they do like the way the birdies sing the morning after it. For Devin, working near Wamsutter, WY has been a frozen ickfest. He's had 30 below several nights, and a lot of their equipment has been freezing up. He's had a couple of really rough nights and he's just looking forward to coming home.

Shesten has been working hard trying to get her house guest-ready since Devin's bff Kris, and his wife Britta may be coming to visit for a couple of weeks. She's looking for furniture on craigslist and not having a ton of luck, but still looking. Shes has been crafting and getting ready for Christmas and all that it entails... and having fun getting into the Christmas spirit!

What We're Reading:

Shesten - Beautiful Creatures (yes, still.)

Devin - nothing

They Say It's Our Birthday!

So my birthday was last week. Devin's is Wednesday. We have 8 days in between our birthdays. Yeah. It's like that. Here are some pics from our birthday celebrations. Devin's isn't until tomorrow, but we had to celebrate his Fake Birthday because he wasn't going to be around. For my bday, we did the Cornish Pasty Co in Mesa. For Dev's we did Rueben sandwiches at my mom and dad's.