My Crazy Life

The past few weeks have been extremely busy with work and wedding plans and family visits and remodeling my house and garage sales and the list goes on. I am trying very hard not to be one of those girls who abandons all else for wedding plans. I am trying to stay involved and keep up with ALL my responsibilities but I know I am not doing a very good job of it.

Lately I have been a little forgetful and doing stupid things. For example, I have the opportunity to blog right now because I stopped my office this morning on my way back from the gym and realized as I was walking out the door that I did not have my car keys so I went back in the office and no keys. It hit me that I had probably locked them in the car. I went over and looked and sure enough, I took the keys out of the ignition, threw them in my purse, grabbed my office keys (separate set) and then proceeded to leave my purse (with my cars keys) in the car and lock it up tight. So I am sitting here waiting for the locksmith to get here and save me from myself. UGH!!!

Oh well, it has given me an opportunity to gt a few more things done here at the office. So what if it cost me $60.00 to do them.

On a happier note; I have started campaigning for John Lewis who is running for Mayor of Gilbert. I am really excited about his decision to run. He and his wife are phenomenal people and he is a talented leader. It will be nice to have someone of his character in public office.

If you live in Gilbert, you will probably be getting a call from to encourage your support for John Lewis for Mayor. Matt and I will be hosting an open house in February to help people get to know John before the March 10 election.

I have been working with my fellow International Initiatives Committee members to organize a roundtable discussion at the Capitol for Arizona based non-profit organizations doing work in other nations specifically Central and Southern America and Subsaharan Africa. It has been great working with the White House staff to coordinate USAID's help in this effort. It is definitely interesting working on such a short time frame as the White House staff knows they only have a couple of months to leave their mark and try to institutionalize their efforts.

Matt and I will be taking a scuba diving refresher course on Monday evening. I am really excited about our upcoming scuba diving trip to Cozumel. We are leaving Wednesday to go up to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. I am really excited about that as well. We will stop in Vegas on our way and pick up Matt's sister Christina who is awesome so that should make our road trip that much more fun. I am especially excited about seeing Layne and Kelly on Saturday. We are going to get in a half day of skiing and it will be so fun to spend some quality time with them.

In case I don't have a chance to blog before Thanksgiving let me wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving weekend! I am so thankful for all the many blessings in my life; most especially my family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Good Friends

I have been thinking this week about how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. The Lord has placed in my life some of the world's smartest, kindest, funniest and most genrous people.

I cannot believe how many people have oofered their time and service to help Matt and I with our wedding plans. So many thoughtful cards and gifts and emails have come in that I am overwhelmed with the love and sentiment of so many people.

I have a couple of special Thank yous that are filling my heart today. Not to lessen the feelings I have for all my friends but there are a few that I am especially touched by this morning.

Ashley has spent so much time planning my shower, dress shopping with me and most of all doing my engagement pictures. She is a very busy wife, mom and photographer and yet she has taken extra care to be sure that everything was just right for my engagement pictures and spent hours uploading, sorting and treating my photos yestrday. She is an amazing photographer, she even made me look good in some of those pictures. You can see her work on everydaylovephotography.blogspot.com and everydaylovephotography.com. Ashley has been a beloved friend through many years and is more like a sister than a friend. Thanks Ashley for all you are doing but mostly for your love and friendship!

Christi of course is my rock. I know if ever I need ANYTHING she is always there. She is the most dependable and loyal and thoughtful friend a person could possibly find and as a HUGE bonus; she is also the funniest and most fun friend I have. No matter what we are doing Christi and I are always laughing and having a good time at it. I don't think I have ever introduced Christi to anyone who didn't comment on her humor and how fun she is. Matt makes it clear all the time that he is really just using me to get to Christi. :) My parents feel the same way, it is more important to them to see Christi when they visit than me. Even my beloved nephews, especially Tanner are smitten with her. Thanks for all your love and support and comic releif over the years. And thanks for all your help with wedding dress creating and shower plans.

I also got the most special gift in the mail yesterday. Matt has my camera in Ohio this weekend so I couldn't take a picture to post but darling Annamarie Ferrell sent me the most beautiful scrapbook for engagement pictures. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and the time (and talent) it took to make this for us. Thanks Annamarie! It was not only a beautiful gift but means so much to me that you thought of me and put so much time into such a meaningful package.

Boston

One week ago today I was in Boston at a Red Sox game. Let's not talk about what has happened to the Sox since then but I did get some great shots at the game including a picture of the Green Monstah.

I am attaching some pics of all the fun we had in Boston. I loved every minute of it but especially loved meeting my Mother and Father in-law to be as well as two of Matt's siblings.

You might notice also that we were there for the extraordinary New England fall colors!

You will also see a picture of my distinguished husband to be at the Taiwan Cafe in china town. We made a mid night run one night when we were all hungry. It was fun being close to a big city with so many options. The food was fabulous.

Have I mentioned I am in love?

I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have Matt Cox in my life! He is the most amazing man I have ever known. He is kind, loving, romantic, humble, HOT, and is perfect for me in every way! I don't know why or how I got so lucky but he has chosen me to be his bride! I love this man with all my heart and cannot wait to start our new life together on January 10, 2009!

Matt and I met about 5 years ago, when he came in to meet with my boss. We flirted a little and ended dating some but it never turned into anything more. Then a little over a year ago we ran into each other at a mutual friends wedding and chatted for a while. After that it seemed we saw each other in random places and always had a nice but short conversation. Then one day, out of the blue he called and asked if I would like to go try out this Cuban restaurant in Scottsdale. I agreed and we set the date for a few weeks in the future because our schedules were really booked. We went and had a great time and then I started seeing him a couple of times a week. It did not take long for me to realize what an incredible person he was and recognize that he was a good man in all aspects of his life.

About a month and a half later it seemed we were dating pretty seriously. We would talk about everything under the sun and always planned really fun activities and quickly became the best of friends.

Then on Monday October 6th, 2008 Matt took me on a pic nic we had planned a couple of weeks in advance. I thought it would be one of our regular fun dates and was excited to see him and enjoy his company and the outdoors. He really shocked me when after dinner he asked me to marry him and put that ring on my finger! Although, I knew in my heart it was heading that direction, we had never actually talked about getting married so he definitely pulled off a great surprise!

The Friday after our engagement we flew back to Boston to spend time with his family. It was the first time I would meet my new in laws and I must say it was like going home. We had a wonderful time together and I fell as much in love with them as I am with Matt (well close anyway). Being with him in Boston with all his family and friends he grew up with gave me a deeper appreciation for the man he is and increased my love for him even more.

He is the kind of man every girl dreams of having in her life and I am so excited to get to spend the rest of eternity with him!

It is finally finished!

Well my long anticipated journey is finally over. I will say that it was much more difficult than I could have imagined it to be and I am glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed again. It was a great experience and I would not trade it but I am glad to have it behind me.

We began our journey in Yosemite Valley on Labor Day and ended at the Summit of Mt. Whitney (14, 500 ft.) on September 11, 2008. It was fitting that my legs felt like they could explode at any minute that day. My legs began swelling about four days prior to that and by the time we got home had about 18 lbs. of fluid collected in them. (Exactly what you want when trying to backpack through some of the most difficult terrain in the country).

With a few exceptions the trip was great and we all had a really fun time together. Most importantly, no one sustained a major injury and we all summited and made it home safe and sound. We all did so well that we were able to complete our goal five days faster than we planned. We sumited in 10 and 1/2 days which was quite a feat. Everyone we talked to was amazed at fast pace. Most people we ran into were doing the same trail in about twice the time we did. I must say we were pretty proud of ourselves.

The scenery was amazing and it was great to be in the fresh air and cool weather. It was also a nice surprise to come home to cooler temperatures.

Overall it was a great experience I will always remember and appreciate having had the opportunity to complete.

I have not had time to check out every ones blogs since I have been back but I am anxious to catch up on what everyone else has been doing for the past two weeks.

My new love

I know most of you will be shocked that I am doing two posts in one day but I just got back from meeting my newest love. His name is Carson Craig Meacham and he is the most adorable 5.2 ounce baby boy ever. He was born at 4:20 this morning without much warning. Mama BARELY made it to the hospital to have her new cutie 20 minutes later. Mom is doing well and looks fabulous. Ryan looks fabulous too, I might add. (so he does not get his fragile feelings hurt).

I gave little Carson a pep talk yesterday and asked that he please get here before I left for my trip. He was obviously very inspired by my pleadings. Welcome to the world Carson, we are sure glad you made it here safe and sound and healthy!

T minus 2 and counting

Well after a year of anticipation it is finally hear. We leave for the John Muir Trail on Saturday afternoon. I cannot believe after all this training and anticipation it is really going to happen.

I have to admit that I have been feeling a LOT of anxiety over this trip. For a multitude of reasons but mostly I think just the unknown. This is going to be the hardest thing I have and probably ever will do in my life, physically. I have attached a map of the trail including pictures that my friend Brittney put together. It will give you and indication of the difficulty of the task ahead of us but also shows the incredible views we will have.

I have read and heard many people talk about this trip and they always talk about how difficult it is but also how incredibly beautiful and serene it is. It will be a great challenge and a wonderful experience.

I will be completely out of contact with the world for 15 days so I will be very excited to catch up with everyone when I return.

Date Night

Last night Matt and I accompanied his Priests on date night. Most of them have barely turned 16 and this was their first date. They were so funny! I loved observing the awkwardness of those teenage years. After we dropped off all the boys dates, Matt asked the boys how they thought it went. They all gave an enthusiastic positive response. He then asked if any of them would be asking any of these girls out again. One kid pipes up and says no but I might ask your date out. I just about fell out of the car laughing. Matt then threatened the kid with his life if he ever tried... jokingly of course.

Sunny San Diego

Our surfing trip to San Diego was a blast. Bryce brought two of his friends, Trevor and Zane who are great kids and between the four boys there was never a dull moment. We took surfing lessons on Friday afternoon in Encinitas and then went to Pacific Beach on Saturday and rented our own equipment. I stuck with body boarding the second day ( a little easier for the balance challenged). The boys all did a little surfing in the morning and then decided to trade in the surf boards for body boards.

We also played wiffle ball, football and spoons at night. Spoons was definitely the most dangerous activity we had all weekend.

We were all exhausted by the end of the day. It is amazing how much energy you expend swimming against the waves. It was a great workout.

The crew will all be leaving tomorrow morning and I will be sad to see them go. We have had so much fun together. These boys are a riot. Three pre-teens and a 9 year old going on 21! It is total and utter CHAOS! Just the way I like it! :)

Long time no Blog

It seems like it has been a long time since I have blogged or even looked at anyone Else's blog. Life has been a little hectic the past couple of weeks. I will just hit the highlights.

We officially started boot camps this week and I am teach ALL the classes this month since I will be backpacking most of September. I tell you these two a days are tough but I am definitely excited to get in great shape before I leave for the JMT.

Matt got back from Alaska on Monday and then promptly came over with his lawn mower and cut my lawn. Have I mentioned how wonderful he is?! You will notice from the picture that my lawn was more like a jungle, so I felt really bad that he had to work so hard in the heat but he was determined he would get it done right then.

Amber and the boys and two of their friends will be here tomorrow afternoon and we are going to go to San Diego early Friday morning. I am really excited about it! It will be the last weekend we have to do anything before they all go back to school.

It seems like time is just racing. I have less that a month before I leave for the JMT. I cannot believe after nine months of training it is finally here! It is a bit surreal. I am anxious for it to get here and be finished. It will be great to get over the nerves of not knowing if my body can handle such extremes.

Nothing much else is too exciting in my life. Work has been really really busy and church responsibilities are going to be really hectic this next couple of weeks but of course all of those things are positive and for the most part enjoyable.