Has my absence made your heart grow fonder?

Just wondering...

I'm back
I'm behind
I'm intimidated

There is no way that I can "catch up" with this blog.  It's a daunting task.  It's one reason I'm so far behind!  I want to post but then I see the enormous amount of time and posts that have past since my last and I walk away.

So...I will sum up.   Sorry...wordy and no pictures.

• After our fun trip to Moberly, MO, we joined Jen, her kids and Gma J in a caravan to SLC for the Plewe Family Reunion.  We were so excited to be traveling with family making travel life more fun with cousins!  We did have fun but the hellish travel trends continued to plague us!  At one stop Gma locked her keys in the car...we waited for a LONG time till AAA could come and break us in.  This put us into our first stop pretty late but nothing unmanageable.  However, when we got to our hotel in Cheyenne, WY the hotel we had a reservation at (and called to confirm just a couple hours before) had given our room away!  WHAT?!  Ugh!  We had to go 30 min south into Colorado which put us into our hotel at 3am!
• The Plewe Reunion was fun.  The Jorgensen's won the team competition...nice!  We went to the cemetery to clean the headstones of ancestors.  We got to know our extended family better.  It was great!
• After all our travels were done we couldn't just go home.  Nope...we still had to drive back to Albuquerque to get our van.  At least our van had a new transmission in it now!  
• I got a new calling...no longer Sunbeam teacher.  Now Primary Secretary.
• On July 25th school started again.  Mitch = Sophomore at Basha HS, Chase = 8th grade at Payne JHS, Rylee = 5th grade and Carson = 2nd grade at Navarrete Elem.
• Scott went back to Moberly, Mo for his 25th HS reunion in August
• All during the Fall I had been applying to several places to get a job.  I couldn't even get an interview! Nothing!  Until November.  I had walked into a small cafe called Apple Dumpling Cafe (owned by an LDS family I knew a little) and handed them my resume.  They called me a couple of days later and offered me a job without an interview!  I mentioned my job search to my friend Stacia and she said I could work for her.  She owns a concession stand that she takes all over the country to sell her berry kabobs.  I got both jobs on the very same day!  I almost quit Apple Dumpling Cafe but decided to keep both jobs.  ADC was kind enough to let me tell them what my schedule would be each week so I didn't double book myself with 2 jobs.  So with both jobs being in the food industry, I had to get myself a food handler's card.  Cool.
• It's no secret that we were unhappy with the ward we were in when we moved to Sun Groves.  We decided that it was worth it to find a new house back in the stake that we loved.  We tried to time it right but worried that we would lose a house and nothing be available in March, we decided to jump on the house we found and move in just before Christmas.  We paid rent on 2 houses for 3 months.  That's a LOT of money but it was so worth it to be in the Greenfield Acres ward with Bishop Guttery, Bro McDowell, Bro Sheperd, Stacia, Vonda...I could go on and on listing reasons why we were so happy to be back in the best Stake...QCAZChandler Heights Stake!  
• Christmas 2011 came and as a family we decided to go on another cruise.  Same route from LA to Catalina to Ensenada back to LA.  Different ship and different week made it fun!  We decided to go over the Christmas break so the kids didn't miss school.  We left for CA on New Years Day 2012.  It was a bit more expensive but totally worth it so the kids didn't have to struggle to make up the work they missed.  We love to cruise!  It didn't really matter that we had done that route before.  We toured a different part of Catalina in the golf cart and we just shopped in downtown Ensenada instead of seeing the blow hole.  There were more kids this time too.  Rylee made a fun friend named McKenzie and the bigs had fun too.  Then there is the food.  If we were ever bored, we would go get some ice cream or a soda from the bar.  
• January brought our 18th wedding anniversary
• I worked a lot
• Intel throws great parties!  The one over President's Day weekend was no exception.  This time we decided to bring the kids along, stay in the hotel where the party was held and have some family fun!  There was a show featuring the dance group Fighting Gravity.  Scott and I saw it and then brought the kids down to see their second show with us.  We took the yummy food up to the kids.  We swam in the pool.  It was a fun little family overnighter.
• In March we got to meet the guys from KID HISTORY!  <--Click on that to see who I mean.  We LOVE their episodes and when they announced they would do a Premiere outside of UT we rallied and voted and got them to come to AZ!  They showed us episode 9, we met them, bought their DVD and had them sign the cover.  We had 2 extra tickets and I knew the Gutterys love them too so we took Shayna and Tessa with us.  Fun!
• At the end of March, Cheryl and Brooke drove out to AZ for fun.  To see us and Brooke's friends from their cruise they went on.  It was fun to have them here even though I had to work most of the time they were here. 
• In April, Scott and I spoke in church for the first time in many years.
• Apparently, I had gotten to be good enough at what I do for Stacia that she started having me travel with her to events outside of Phoenix.  I went with her to Tucson for the 4th Street Fair, Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby (very cool) and to California for Fiesta Hermosa at the beach!  It's a little stressful traveling and working and missing my kids but it's fun to be with Stacia and the work is fun too!  Hermosa Beach was a little more stressful because Stacia sent me to set up ALL BY MYSELF!  She joined me the next day but I set up from scratch and worked the booth alone all day Saturday.  Still...fun!
• In the middle of all the travel fun I still worked at Apple Dumplings and worked at the Jobing.com Arena for Stacia at the Coyote's hockey games.
• Also, in the midst of all that...Rylee turned 11 and I turned 41
• After trying and trying and applying and applying and interviewing and interviewing for the last 5 years, Intel Corporation finally decided that Scott is management material.  Finally!  The promotion he deserves!  He's been with Intel for 19 years.  They have been a great company to work for.  Sadly, Scott's tries for management have been during this stupid recession.  It was easier for Intel to hire someone already in the pay bracket needed so they wouldn't have to give Scott a raise.  BUT!  He prevailed and is now a Group Leader!  We are so proud of his hard work and many talents!
• I've been putting off surgery on my feet for years.  It was time and I was scheduled at the end of June. Before I was put out of commission, I decided I wanted to go to the beach.  Danene was taking her kids to San Clemente and I wanted to join her.  It's only a 6 hour drive for us...easy!  I asked on Facebook for a place to stay, I got 2 responses and away we went!  We stayed for the first couple of nights at my cousin Tim Jensen's house in Upland.  I had never met his wife Melissa so it was fun getting to know them.  Then we stayed 3 nights at my former swim coach Dave Maynard's house in Fallbrook.  WOW!  French Chateau!  They had a guest house for the boys and a fantastic girly guest room for Rylee and I.  They were so good to us!  We will definitely visit them again!  Dave said he would take the kids out surfing next time.  So excited for that!  It was really great seeing Dave and Marsha again.  Dave was such a HUGE part of my youth.  Great, great man!
• Chase couldn't go to SoCal with us because in the middle of our trip, he had to leave for Scout Camp.  
• Mitch left for his High Adventure with the Priests to Lake Powell the day after we got home from SoCal
• Finally it was time for my surgery.  I have had bunions on my feet since I was a little girl.  I got them from my Grandma Dean.  They didn't bother me until I was an adult.  I had the right one removed in 1999...but it's back.  The left one is the most painful right now though so we'll start with that one.  June 15th, it was removed!  Surgery #8 is in the books!  
• Right after I got my stitches removed, we set out on our annual trek to Missouri for the 4th of July!  Normally, we take 3 days to get there: spend a night in ABQ, spend a night in OKC, arrive in Moberly.  This year we decided to spend 2 nights in ABQ.  Greg and Cheryl weren't going to be there and we had come into some money (cough, cough Gpa J's Father's Day/Birthday gift) so we decided to get a hotel and hang out in our old stomping grounds for a day.  I put on Facebook that I would be there and asked if we could get some friends together for lunch.  We met at Flying Star in Corrales and it was so good to see my dear, dear friends!  Karee Sowards, Shauna Kemsley, Monique Duke, Valerie Gardner, Janet Fackrell, Rachel Fackrell, Nancy Carlisle - thanks for the fun and friendship ladies!
• While in ABQ we ALWAYS to to Greg's office.  The kids love it there!  They raid his candy stash (sorry Greg), they use to play his cool arcade games but those were replaced with iMacs and iPads!  Even better!  Chase and Carson had their teeth scanned and we got to see pix of all the kids when they started their ortho treatment with Uncle/Dr Greg
• When we lived in ABQ and Gma J would visit, she would always take the kids to Old Town ABQ.  We went in honor of her!  We got some souvenirs and then went to the Candy Lady and got the best caramels!  
• The next day we took off to OKC.  On our way, in Grey County, TX our AC decided to conk out.  UGH!  We cannot win!  We then decided to drive all the way through the night with the windows down instead of trying to make it through the sunny heat filled daytime.  We arrived in Moberly at 6am and went to sleep on Gma's couches!

Welp!  That's it...I'll start posting with pictures from now on!  Thanks for enduring!  <3 div="div">