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)