Inspiration and and Update

I was reading through FB tonight and read a friends status that said that I inspired her to start a blog. Me who posts only once every few months now that FB rules the world. Well I wanted to catch everyone up on our lives with out having to read through pages and pages of status updates. So here goes.

Gerriss is still working at Stake Center Locating as a utility locater for the time being. He has recently started a Real Estate Investment company, called Tetelestai Real Estate Investments, with our good friend Chris Emans. They will be focusing mostly on wholesaling properties. They are just getting it off the ground at the moment so not too much to report on at the moment. He is also continuing to do internet marketing but it doesn't bring it quite the income so it is more of a tool to learn more about how to market better on the internet. Aside from that Gerriss always makes time for me even with his busy schedule and I am grateful for that.

I am working at Speed Lube as the office manager still. I have really enjoyed working there. It is a lot to learn and a completely different environment than I have ever worked in, but I think that it has challenged me in different ways and I am grateful for the experience. I am also starting my own little side business of selling vinyl. I am still in the beginning phases of it, so not too much to tell quite yet. I am excited though. I have finally figured out something that I like to do that I can get paid to do. I will keep you posted.

Oliver is doing fabulous! He is learning not to chew on everything. He has graduated from his kennel to his own room. I made a craft room this past weekend and we have also made room for Oliver to hang out in there during the day when we are at work or when we are gone in the evenings. He actually has taken to it quite well. He is no longer eating all of our things, and he doesn't bark and cry all day like when he was in his kennel. I like it better too cause I don't feel as horrible if we are gone since he has a nice recliner to lounge in and all his toys and his food and water. He has it pretty good. Like my brother says, he has us pretty well trained. :)

Other than that some news for both of us is that we have started attending Calvary Chapel. Gerriss and I have gone through some big changes spiritually lately and have made a very difficult, but very very informed decision. We feel that we have been led down this path and are completely and utterly happy because of it. We have truly found a brand new and wonderful relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. We also have found a body of fellow believers that love us no matter where we have come from and have taken us in as their own. We love everyone there and are so grateful for their fellowship.

We are absolutely loving St George and enjoy the warm weather more and more as it gets colder and colder up in Salt Lake. We are always going on new adventures and exploring new areas. Its nice meeting people that have lived down here their whole lives and can show us the really cool places that only the locals know about. If you are in the area you should come visit! We'd love to have you! Talk to you later!

God Bless

09/11/01

I will never forget! I am proud to be an American! God be with you always!

Iron County Demolition Derby

We went to the demolition derby this weekend up in Parowan. Can I just say that I don't think I have seen so many hillbillies in my life! First of all, I was in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, and then we were all gathered to watch old junker cars race and crash into each other. IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! I am totally going to make this a new tradition in our family. I feel so grateful after a night like that to come from a town where most people have all of their teeth... :) But in all honesty, it was a blast. There were some people driving the mini cars that I knew, and one of the derby cars that was supposed to be in it was sponsored by the place where our good friend works. The only thing was they couldn't get it to run that night so that had to forfeit. But it turned out ok, cause the driver was a little hesitant to want to do it anyways. I wish I had pictures or something to show for it, but I was too busy people watching and cheering on the derby to think about pictures. I am totally stoked for next years derby and will be able to come prepared with my cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and a little bit of yeehaw!

Small Town Lingo

When Gerriss and I first relocated to St. George, one of the first things I noticed was how fast and mumbled everyone talks. It has been a challenge to get used to it, especially working with the public so much.

Well after four and a half months I think I got it down. The other day I actually used the phrase "I already done did it" and didn't even flinch.

Exploring

We have been all over this town over the past two months. We got a state parks pass so that we can go up Snow Canyon and go to Sand Hollow as often as we want and we sure are taking advantage of it. Here are some pictures of our adventures...


This is Pioneer Park. Its just a fun place to hike around and explore.


This one is a picture of a small 3" tall cave, but up close in the picture it looks like a life-size cave.


This is Gerriss in a lava tube on a hike in Snow Canyon. We found another one this past weekend with his family that we still need to go exploring into. Its a giant cave that you need a headlamp to go deeper into.

There is an area called Kayenta that we go to in the evenings sometimes to look at the stars. It is pitch black out there and dead silent. There is also a park near our house that we go to often that has a little stream running through it that has little frogs all over. They have such a peaceful croak. We love to go there and just sit close by and listen to the melody. Gerriss got a metal detector and has found some pretty interesting things. We even found an old matchbox truck in our backyard. He has a little jar that he keeps all his findings in. One day the thing will pay for itself, or at least that is our hope... :) We have really changed a lot of things lately about our city life to try and blend and mesh better with this country style down here. I work at a lube shop so being girly is out of the question. I MUST get my hands dirty on a daily basis whether I like it or not. I am enjoying being in a completely different environment than I am used to. Plus I work with mostly men so that is a big change as well. Gerriss has started listening to country music since he drives around all day and that is the only decent thing he can find on the five channels to choose from, two of them being country. He even got a cowboy hat! Doesn't he look sexy!!! :)



I wish we had more pictures but we are too busy exploring that we forget to bring our camera. Good thing we are living here and can go to these places all the time so that we can get many many many pictures over the years.

Home Sweet Home

Well we have been here almost a month and have loved every second of it. We have something fun and new to do every night, and even if its not new its just nice to be back to a normal routine. Here are some pictures of our cute little place.

Here is our patio, our front door is just to the right.


This is one of the tiny bedrooms. We are using one as an office and the other as a storage type room. They sure are small.


Here is a view of our front room looking towards the kitchen. Yes that is Oliver running towards me. :)


This is our front room with our new TV that was our house warming gift to ourselves.


And here is our kitchen. Its nice and big with tons of cupboard space.


I would show you our bedroom but its just a normal bedroom with not a lot of space as illustrated in the other bedroom picture. The rooms may be small, but the intention when designing this place as we have been told was "where do we spend most of our time and what rooms in the house should we use the most square footage on?" Thus we have a huge kitchen and a big living room. But the big reason we loved this place was because of the big fenced in yard that Oliver can play in. Here are some pictures.

Here is a picture of the carport area. Look how cute my little car is! :)


And here is an idea of the yard and all its glory. Its HUGE! Of course Gerriss gets to mow it. I just get to play in it with the puppy. :)


All in all we are sooooooo happy here. We miss everyone, but we are making new friends and replacing you all. :) Just kidding. We love you all and can't wait to see ya'll when we come back up for our many visits. Anyone is also welcome to come for a visit as well, we would love to have you.

St George

Well its official. Gerriss and I are moved out of Salt Lake and now live in St George. We moved here Easter weekend, then I drove back to Salt Lake to work one more week and get some other things done and then joined him down here on Saturday. We are absolutely loving it here. It's warm already! I don't have to ever feel snow again, there are some mountains (I think to the north) that I can see from my house that get snow on them if I ever want to look at it. Gerriss will be able to ride his motorcycle year round. Oliver has a yard to run and play in. He loves to bark at everything that comes near his yard, acting like he is ten times bigger than he really is. :) The birds are so happy that they get to see the sunshine and are involved in the conversations again. They start chirping at seven in the morning and they don't stop until bedtime. Hopefully I can get used to that again. Its a good thing I love them. Gerriss is starting his new job today! He will be working for a utility locater company. He is happy that he will not be sitting at a desk all day and that he will be outside getting a great farmers tan as well. I am still looking for work but usually find it fast in any market, its just figuring out what I want to do down here. I will still be coaching volleyball for the same club that I was coaching for up in Salt Lake but just for their St George teams. There is also a greater opportunity for beach volleyball down here so maybe I will look into learning how to coach beach. Who knows? I am just so grateful that I have this opportunity to figure things out, that I have the chance to do things at my pace and find a job or even a career that I want to do for a while.

We are so thankful to my parents for letting us live with them for the past few months while we were saving up to move. We are grateful for their continued support with all of our dreams. Thanks for always believing in Gerriss and I and helping us make one of our many dreams come true. Thanks to Gerriss' family as well for their support and their help in getting us all loaded to move out here. We couldn't have done it without you. I hope that everyone has a chance to come down here for a visit to see our cute little place. We are so happy here! We love you all and will miss you!

First Tourney

We had our first tournament this past weekend. We placed 13th out of about 40 teams. Not bad for our first time playing an actual game together. I sure have a lot to learn this year. I am so excited for this opportunity! I can't wait to see the stats from our next game to see how well we have improved since this weekend.

Hi-C 15s Travel

So volleyball has started up again. Yipee! I am now coaching with Heather, the club director. We will be coaching the 15s travel team together. I am so excited to be able to learn from one of the best coaches. The girls have a tough year ahead of them with two awesome coaches who only allow PERFECTION. We have our first tournament next weekend. We still need a lot of work with passing and serving until we are ready, but there is no time. So we will just throw them to the wolves and let them figure it out. I will let you all know how it goes. I wish our team good luck and hope that they learn what we need to work on throughout the season. Go HI-C 15s!