Okay so I am really bad at this blogging thing. Oh well, I guess that is just how I am. I am trying to improve so that when I am old and gray (hmmm......I mean REALLY old and REALLY gray) I can remember things my foggy mind will surely forget. This year has been a hard and fulfilling one. It is true that through trials you grow the most so I am grateful for them however I will be glad when the hard parts are over. David not working and than losing his job was a hard blow. David not getting the job I thought for sure was his, probably was the hardest on my testimony. A friend has a saying on her wall that really runs true for me. "Today's tests are tomorrow's testimony" . I can really relate to that, at any rate it struck a chord with me. I thought I was a woman of faith but this year has really tested it. I am glad to say though that I still am me and my testimony is unwavering as ever. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have and really am glad that I can continue to grow and mature.
This year we also have had a lot of fun times as well. The vacation with my in-laws was really fun. We went to Mount Rushmore, which proved to be quite a moving experience for me. The spirit was so strong during the program that they had. I has such a sense that Heavenly Father really did preserve this land for freedom to establish the church here. It was also very patriotic and thrilling. Of course the landscape around it really is stunning as well.
Girls Camp was also a major highlight of the year. All of the meetings and hard work was very rewarding. Working with the junior youth leaders was exceptional. I am amazed at how strong the youth of this church really are! It is encouraging. I also LOVED working with the sisters. Shelly Butler, and Christina Ashby. What women!!!! Talented, loving, hardworking, steady and persistant. I also worked with Sisters Little,Waker,Johansen,Bigelow,Gregson and Sister Peterson. I had a strong feeling that I was right were the Lord wanted me. It was very fulfilling to do that work! I hope to do it again next year if the Lord wants me to.
Of course the holidays were always fun. Halloween we went over to Shaun and Alyssa's house. William was Peter Pan and I was Wendy. Thanksgiving was spent at Holly's house in St. George. William had a blast with his cousins, especially Sarah and Sammie!
Opening our own franchise business has and is a challenge but also rewarding. I LOVE the freedom that comes from being your own boss, however it is very scary not knowing if you will make enough to make next month's mortgage payment.
All in all I have been VERY blessed this year. The Lord has seen to my wants and needs. Life is good and happy right now.

Star Trek the Next Generation...er..umm..I mean Lundren Trek the Next Generation.

I wonder if all you little Lundgren boys and girls remember the summer we moved here to good ol Utah from Cali. Do you remember our theme song? I remember it well."The Final Countdown" by the group Europe. I remember cleaning out our house in Roseville and listening to this song over and over again. Well some things don't really change I guess and I have on my music playlist this song as well as "Carrie". I like to crank up the volume on the speakers and clean my house to this as well as other nostalgic music. (The last laugh belongs to Matt, I gave him such a hard time when I was young and now I listen to "his type of music" of my own free will and choice) Anyways I was going through my playlists tonight and adding some more music to it, when my cute little 3 year old came to me and said. " I want to listen to the finny downtown song, go to the finny downtown song now! Mommy!"
Needless to say I had no clue what the "finny downtown song" was and told him I didn't know what he wanted. So here we are mother and son having a hardtime understanding each other. I kept asking him was in a movie or show that you watched? He kept saying yes to ALL my yes and no questions I asked him. His description was the finny downtown song that the daddy sings in the church (In my mind I'm thinking some cute sesame street song or primary song.) Okay so we go through all little kid songs that I have. Nope! Poor little William is getting frustrated and so is his mother! Okay so maybe he means some theme from a movie or something, (he does love the Superman theme, Spiderman theme and the Harry Potter theme) so I go through all my soundtrack playlists,.....Nope! Okay so now it has gone past frustration to obsession! I NEED to know what my little boy is trying to communicate to me. I asked him if it was like Billy Joel or Elton John. He says yeah a daddy like Billy Joel. Ohhhhh, I get it.He is just saying that it is a man who sings the song. Well at least I can narrow it down by half! Now I just randomly go through my older music, Europe is actually close to the beginning of my "nostalgic music" so after a few clicks.....Eureka!....oops I mean Europe (ha ha bad play on words). The song begins and William starts to jump up and down... "Yeah Yeah you found it, the finny downtown song Yes (punches the air with his little fist) Iknew you could do it Mommy!"
I respond with Ohhh duh it makes perfect sense..... the finny downtown song.....The Final Countdown. Ha Ha I about fall out of my chair laughing, and William just starts to sing along with the music, than proceeds to listen to it again and again and again and yet again untill William's Daddy says thats enough! So what a way to spend quality time with my son. Yeah it took all of about three hours. Is my kid stubborn or what? Oh wait I think he gets it from Lundgren side, is all my husband says to me.

p.s. William loves this song so much now (I would like to think that it is because of our bonding moment....I mean hour...) He just HAD to listen to it one more time right before bed. Man!

I wanna go to Deadwood!

So Last Week we hitched a ride with the good ol in-laws and took a trip through Wyoming and South Dakota! We visited some really cool places like the old prison in Rawlins, Wy. , Martin's Cove, Devil's Tower Wy., Deadwood, SD., Mount Rushmore SD, The Badlands National Park, and Custer SD. It was a really inspirational trip for me. I had a lot of fun with my mother and father in law and enjoyed some really good conversations. This is the reason I love road trips. William was actually not too bad either. We only had the very occasional Are we there yet? and this is taking forEeevvveeerr! followed with only two bouts of cranky crying. He was such a good little guy, and my in-laws are such good sports for putting up with us! I will have pictures and a detailed report coming soon.

Okay so I don't know how to do this. I just want to post some pictures and I keep posting the wrong ones. Oh well I will keep trying to post the better pictures so you can tell me what you think.

Memorial Day Fun!

So over this weekend we had family fun! I always love getting together with family, letting the kids go wild, and having good long conversations with extended family. It was great to get out and enjoy my camera as well. I had alot of fun! I think the more I practice hopefully the better I get. Thanks to all my family for letting me bug you with my camera!

Man, time goes fast when you are busy!
This week we found out that David's job is not going to call him back. When he got into his accident last September they were not sure how much the insurance company was going to pay out, so they put him on the dirt crew. When the dirt crew ran out of work to do they put him on seasonal lay-off. We finally got the results back from the insurance company.The company policy is that if the pay out is over $7500 it is automatic termination. Well we found out that they did pay out over the limit so now David is without a job. It seems that when it rains it pours! William also has a tooth that needs work on! He is in pain almost every night! I feel so bad for him! As if that is not enough for me to worry about, last saturday night I was out with friends at the gateway, (That was a blast though!) when I got back to my car I found a lady standing next to my car writing me a note. She had hit the side of my car! She was writing an apology. I can say though that through everything I have good things that happen to counterbalance these events! David has some job prospects already which might be turn out to be better than his old job. William was just approved for CHIP, so his tooth should be fixed next tuesday, and my car's damage was only to the driver's side mirror! Whew! I am sure that the Lord gives us trials for a reason. I am absolutely sure that the Lord gives us many blessings in turn as well! I am very grateful for my many blessings! I am not too worried, I know things will work out for my and my family's good.

Nikon d60!

So my sweet husband sacrificed one of his guns and gave me the money so that I could buy a camera! Now that is true love! I researched and researched and decided that for right now I wanted a Nikon D60. So true to my form I scoured the internet to find a good deal. At first I was getting really frustrated because most were at least $450! That was way out of our price range. I was getting bummed! Than my dear brillant husband said why don't you get just the Nikon d60 body! We don't need the lens because our old camera was a Nikon and we could still use that lens on new cameras! Genius! My husband saves the day again! So I once again scour the internet to find a good deal and finally bidded on ebay for one. (That story in itself should be a post....ha ha!)
We finally got it Thursday evening and I have been playing with it ever since! Maybe I will post some of my finer artistic captures! I am having way too much fun!(It is all because of my husband)

Fiddler on the Roof!

I love this movie! It definatly is my favorite movie of all time!! So this morning I was typing away on the computer and William brings me this movie and says I want to watch it. Really? I say. He says Yes, mommy, I love it! I love that movie!( I really don't think he has seen it before) Ha Ha he makes me laugh. So I put it in and he starts to watch it. I couldn't resist I sit to watch it too. I forgot I funny this movie really is. I think My favorite line in the movie is when Golda says to Tevye to hurry up with his deliveries or he will be late for the sabbath. She keeps hounding him (like a good wife should ha ha) and he says:

I won't be late, I won't be late! If you ever stop talking I won't be late!

Then she says:

You can die from such a man!

Ha Ha ha! I about fall over laughing so hard. (maybe you need to be married to fully appreciate that line)(Or maybe it is just the mood I am in) Either way David looks at me life I have lost my mind, and he says: You are psycho! I married a psycho! Sometimes you scare me.

That only makes me laugh more. (It is always best to keep your husband a little scared of you I think, Ha Ha just kidding) Anyways I love this movie! Thank you Katie for getting it for me for Christmas!!

Old and Young at the same time!

Okay so I feel dazed. How could this have happened without me knowing about it? What happened? I don't know. All of a sudden I wake up and I'm not 18 anymore! You say come one Heather you haven't been 18 in 12 years! I know but all of sudden I'm the adult, the mommy, the one in charge, the evil grown up! Hey! I feel like I'm still 18, I know everyone says this but I didn't realize how true it would feel untill now. When did this happen? I know gradually over time my responsibilities have grown. It sort of crept up on me. So what brought this on you ask? Oh a bit of everything. My three year old is talking to me about what he wants to do when he grows up. ( A daddy) (like his daddy) a really good daddy like his daddy is.) He said this not me! So not much to freak out about right? Well William and I went to see Jack and Savannah (the kids I used to be a nanny for). They look so grown up! Definately not the toddlers I watched play with my baby! After that we went to see my father-in-law. He was just released from the hospital after having an operation to remove pre-cancerous polyps on his colon. Hey! I thought that only happens to old people. (Okay so Lewis is old but I remember visiting my grandma when she had cancer and my parents weren't that much older than I am now.) When did that happen? So the icing on the cake is this. David and I stayed up untill 12:30 am watching Jack Bauer!! It was fun but waking up this morning was not like anything I have felt before. Like I was hit with a two by four and than I looked in the mirror! (BAD MISTAKE) Who is this person looking at me? She has wrinkles by her eyes. Bags under her eyes. joints hurt, about 15 pounds overweight, about 5 gray hairs, and worse yet! I move slow!!! Like an old person!!! HEY!
So I just read a quote a couple of days ago by Neil A Maxwell. Paraphrasing it, he said the purpose of life is to break you. To become teachable, and humble, so that the Lord can prepare you for a Celestial life and Godhood! ( Okay so that is far too deep for my meager mind) Okay so I see the wisdom in that. However I don't think I like it. I loved being 18, but now that I have written my little rant I am realizing I don't think I would ever trade where I am right now. 18 was fun, exciting and full of anticipation, but was also challenging, difficult, nerve racking, intimidating, and I made ALOT of mistakes. So I think I 30 is definatly better than 18. I guess I still feel overwhelmed, and still make ALOT of mistakes but I am more sure of myself, I would hope I can say I am wiser than I was, I feel more at peace than I did when I was 18. I guess it is a trade off! I feel old but I also feel more fulfilled. ( I think it is only going to get worse) (or better if you really think about it) Okay so I feel better now! I love my life. I am grateful for my life. As long as I make good decisions so that the Lord can take care of me, I am sure I will get through this life better than expected.

Good Times

This past week I have been working at Replicolor. I used to work there full time before I had William.I had such a fun time. (Caitlin, thanks for being so easy to work with) I Love all things photographic, and printing has given me a whole new perspective! Needless to say I am grateful that my old bosses asked me to cover for them while they went on vacation. I must say that Scott and Charlene are the best bosses I have ever worked with. Now I am back at home and I feel like a drug junkie in need of a fix. (As if I really know what that feels like...ha ha.) I already miss working with pictures. I now have been researching which is the best digital SLR Camera out there, for under $600. I really want to learn more about photography. I have taken classes in school and working at Replicolor really has helped me understand some things but I feel like I have just scratched the surface. There is so much to learn! Anyways these past couple of weeks have been awesome!

Bronchitis

So for the last 5 days I have had Bronchitis. I don't think I have had it this bad since high school. I remember getting bronchitis about twice a year. It sucked and guess what? It still sucks only as an adult it only makes things worse. I have the good fortune of having a nice husband and good friends that take care of me, not only did I not go to any of my meetings this week but David has been taking care of little William all week too! I hope I convey how much I appreciate all that he does for me.
While I was in bed coughing my guts out I had a lot of time to think. I had an epiphany of sorts, that I can do alot better than I have been. You now when you go through life you get into a routine and than before you know it you are in a hum drum slump. Where did the excitement go? Memories of bronchitis in high school brought back alot of high school memories. I remember having alot of goals for my life and the excitement of having a plan. I remember in seminary my teacher saying to us, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Now I really don't think that I am failing in my life. Far from it, but I think I have lost the excitement of fulfulling goals. So I thought I needed to plan a little better and have a goal. Of course now that I am writing this down all you people reading this will know about my goal (which is supposed to be a good thing right?) so for my first goal I want to achieve is to get my Young Women Medallion. Yes I already got it when I was in Young Womens but since I have been a leader and since they changed the program they have encouraged the leaders to get it a second time. So here I go again! Plus I can kill two birds with one stone. In accomplishing this one goal I know the program requires me to set more goals. So hopefully I will become a more rounded adult!

I love Sundays

So today was our Stake Conference. In my usual form I was about an hour late. I keep on trying to be on time and it seems I get worse the older I get. I could blame it on William or David but not this time. I could blame it on my parents since we were still in Wyoming at 6:00 am, but my dutiful Dad got us up with plenty of time to get ready. I think I just love being with my Mom and Dad. William didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay at "this grandma's house". I love that William loves his grandparents. So I guess I did stall a bit longer than needed because William was having fun playing peek-a-boo with grandma, grandpa and Misty(their dog). I feel very fortunate to have the parents I do. They are such a blessing to me and my family!!

What fun

So in my endeaver to become more modern and connected here is my blog. I could waste alot of hours in designing it I have found but WHAT FUN. Thanks Anita for your help. Hopefully I will have posts that are more enlightening or fun to read.

Music makes life liveable!

So Anita showed me how to add a playlist to my blog. I have been wasting time searching through music and add some of my favorites. When I was done I laughed at myself. What a collection! So tell me what you think? Yes, Billy Joel has to be my favorite artist. David and I splurged last year and bought awsome seats to his last concert! I have never been to a better concert! I had a BLAST!!!! David and I were on cloud nine when we left! Good times!!!

Holy Cow!!!!

So I seriously need to take a computer class. I have now created three blogs and still have NO idea what I am doing. Ha Ha silly me. My sister Anita has a cute blog and since she is my LITTLE sister I need to set the example and not her! Besides, Since I really lack journaling skills I thought this could serve a very good purpose. Anyways please post any suggestions on how to get my blog up and running, so that you can all see what a rose colored world I live in!