Belated Bear Lake

Well, everyone already knows that I was able to spend some time with my family at Bear Lake after the 24th, but I left my camera in Utah, so these pics are a little belated. I also just wanted to put up pics of everyone's kids that they didn't have, so they could see them. Enjoy!!!
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The Buti's...I love these girls and I was so excited to be able to spend so much time hangin out with them as Mommy #2!

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The Gunner-boys! I loved to watch these boys play endlessly in the sand, working hard and running around...and the more running around Noah did, the more booty we would see. Crack kills, Noah!

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Sweetest smartest Jack boy! I'm sure those diapers were fun to clean up after all the sand my sweet boy ate on that beach, haha...

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Hiking Minnetonka Cave! 40 degrees, rock formations, 888 steps...my kind of hike! I love being with my sisters so so so so much! I just wish my sweet hubby could have been there with me.

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Enjoying swimming in the pool as well! We did get to enjoy 1 day with Grandma, Grandpa, Rob and Great-Grandpa...

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Billie Jo did awesome her first time ever on a wakeboard, and Chelsea was pro enough to even pose for the camera. Olivia also rocked the wakeboard, but I didn't get a picture :(

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Everyone loves the tube!!! (Except me... I have no interest in being bounced and thrown into the water, I dunno why!) Rick is on the left, Tim and Olivia on the right...everyone being thrown around like crazy! The kids liked the tube until it would go nose down, when they vowed never to do it again, haha.

*If you didn't get my e-mail, brothers and sisters, you can download a compressed folder of all of my pictures of your kids and our adventures at www.rasheta.com/uploads/BearLake2008.zip

First Looks!

Well, I was sad because I left my camera in Utah and am waiting for it to be shipped to me!!! I didn't think I'd have anything to post for a while, but today Noah and I went to the doctor for the first time. We were surprised by having an ultrasound (I didn't know if this Dr did one or not...) and so we have a little surprise for you. Here is our first peek and yours at Baby Rasheta! It's just about an inch long, so they gave me a due date of March 10th!!! We found out quite a few friends are having babies around the same time, so we are really excited!!!If you can't tell, the head is on the right with the little legs o the left... what a cute little grape, huh???

Finally!!! My instrument rating!

After a very long wait I was finally able to complete my test on Thursday. I passed and I am now officially an instrument rated helicopter pilot! The FAA examiner was very pleased with my test and told me several times that my approaches were very solid. For the past several months I have been flying "under the hood" wearing a vision restricting device that allows me to only see the instrument panel and not see outside the aircraft. I wanted to show you a picture of what I've been seeing every time I flown since about November of last year. I'm so excited to finally be able to see outside when I fly!!!

Tombstone!

I had to go down to Tucson this Friday for work and I decided to go visit my friend Kevin who is down in Ft. Huachuca training to go to Kuwait. We went to see "The Dark Knight" on friday night and today (Sat) we decided to go see Tombstone; the famous town where Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with "Doc" Holliday confronted the McLaury's and the Clantons at the O.K. Coral. It was so much fun to see this old historic town with buildings fromt he era and many people dressed in time period clothing. Here are some of the pictures we took:

You can see the main road behind us where all the historic buildings are.

This is the site where the fight happened. They have statues to show the approximate placement of the key players when the gun fight broke out.

These "tour guides" (Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp) gave us the full story of what happened.

I was teaching Kevin how these things worked back then.

After eating lunch in the "Big Nose Kate's Saloon" we got to have some fun taking pictures with their props. This is the same saloon where the Earps and Holliday all hung out the night before the gunfight. It was fun to know they had been in there!


After a fun day in the "Old West" we decided it was time to ride out in the sunset... this was the best we could do!

End of the Drought

So, uh...it's been a while since our last post. My mom's right...I'm not busy, so that's not my excuse. My excuse is that I'm NOT busy. I have been doing NOTHING for weeks, and so there's been nothing to blog about. Although, if you want pictures of me laying on the couch day after day in my pj's, let me know, and I can definitely get some for you. Other than that, you'll have to enjoy the few things we have done in the past few weeks.

Ah, the rain... I was SO happy when it was raining during the waking hours that I made Noah take a picture. I even got to wear my SUPER cute rain boots! It was great...the roads were all a little flooded, and it was so fun to drive around in all the water. I LOVE rain even more now that I live here where it is much more rare.

Nate and Celeste are here (although they leave temporarily tonight). Nate came down to take his police exams and passed all of them with flying colors and is waiting to here the news of if and when he will start the academy. Celeste came down and joined him for a few days and look for houses. Last night we went to the Mesa temple to see a photography exhibit that is on display at the visitor's center. It was really amazing (the second time Noah and I have seen it) and we were glad to be able to share something so spiritual with our good friends.

And finally...the REAL reason Celeste came down...to lay out with me! We actually only hit the pool twice in the days she's been here, but it's been really fun since the pool is the only way you can be outside and enjoy life. The boys came with us, too, and we had a blast coming up with new tricks (see below) and having underwater swimming contests. We were so happy to have Nate and Celeste come and stay with us for a little while and are looking forward to them moving here NEXT WEEK!

The best way to get on your flotation device is with a front flip! We highly recommend you try this before you judge...it requires a lot of skill. This trick was invented by Noah. Sorry about the booty shot...we were caught mid flip!

Finally, a few other things that have happened these past few weeks:
I watched all 3 Anne of Green Gables videos in 2 Days
I mastered the Rubiks cube
We found out we're having a baby next spring
We converted Nate and Celeste to eating at In and Out
We beat Nik & Anissa and Nate & Celeste at Pictionary

Catch-Up Post!!!

First, before I left Gilbert, I was able to go watch Noah play in his first indoor soccer game in his new league. He was invited to play by our cousin Shane (Joni's husband), and our other cousin Jeff (Rachelle's husband) also plays on the team. They play every Saturday night, and he LOVES it. Here are just a few shots...

Next, I chopped my hair off! I know a lot of you have seen it already, but I decided to put up a post. This is the first time I have flipped it out... it's usually straight and a little bit under, but it had already air dried flipped out, so I just did it this way today. I couldn't put a picture up earlier, because I hadn't told Noah I had done it! I wanted to surprise him at the airport, and I succeeded!Before

After

Finally, the reason I went to Utah was for Body Motion's Summer Dance Camp! Here are a few pictures of my favorite students--my three girls!!!
Mia Louise

Tess Abigail

Ellie Jo (in class)

Slumber Party with my girls (worst sleep I've ever gotten) haha.

I am already missing my family, but I'm so so happy to be back home with Noah. It's "monsoon" season here in AZ, so the nightly thunderstorms/showers really cool down the nights. Last night was beautiful. We laid under the cloudy sky in the perfect temperature weather waiting for fireworks (which were cancelled due to the storm) and enjoying the perfect weather-- I even fell asleep for a while. I guess I can get used to this :)

Good Luck Babe!!!

Noah has a big exam in the morning (instrument check ride - finally) , and though I'm far away from him, I just want everyone--especially him--to know how proud I am of him for his talent and hard work as a helicopter pilot in training. I've never seen Noah be so excited about something that never goes away -- he loves flying and gets the same feeling every time he flies. I know it's a career he is going to absolutely love, and one that will be new and exciting every time he flies... I really am so proud of him. Please keep your thoughts with him today as he does his Instrument exams!!!!

Just some old pics I have of Noah doing pre-flight while still in Utah...


Good luck Noah, I love you so much!

House Photos

Well, I guess it's time for an update on the Gilbert crew. I have been really just relaxing -- reading and watching t.v. and teaching myself how to cook and enjoy cooking. I got my gym pass, so I'll be spending some time there, and Noah is doing great at school. He just passed his 3rd stage check for the Instrument rating and will be doing his final Check Ride probably at the end of this week. He is SO happy to be finishing up with his instrument training. It's fun, but not as enjoyable because it's more like pretending to be a plane -- flying high and making flight plans to be followed by using the instruments only. Anyway, I said I would put some more shots of the house up as I got it cleaned, so here you go...

Well, Noah has been wanting a canopy for our patio since I got here...and here it is! It keeps the sun out of the kitchen, so we can keep the blinds open and keep it feeling open and spacious, plus it makes our patio a lot more useful! As you can see, we put in a 10' length of misters, which take the temperature down by about 20 degrees out there as well. Evenings are the nicest out there...even with this set up it's too hot in the daytime.

I also got my kitchen all organized and cleaned. The blinds you can see are covering the sliding doors into the back yard and the patio area... I've been cooking up a storm in this kitchen. I made 6 freezer meals, plus have been cooking every day and night. I don't think Noah knows what to think! The best part of AZ is that it's fruit and fruit dip weather everyday! So we have been eating a lot of that!!!!

And here is my living room. This view is taken from the front entry... you can see the kitchen ahead on the left and the hallway to our bedroom ahead on the right...just to give you an idea of what the setup is. If you took a sharp right you would see the hallway that leads to the other bedrooms and bathroom and the laundry.

Well, 2 down and several to go! I've definitely been taking my time getting everything cleaned and organized...it's A LOT and I'm really trying to enjoy my laid back lifestyle these days!!

Alive and Kickin.....

First of all, a huge congratulations to Patrice and Allen! Their handsome little guy, Evan, is the tiniest, most adorable little thing I have ever seen. They were kind enough to let me take a detour and stay at their house on my way to Gilbert so I could visit them and see their new addition to the family. He is TINY. I hoped that Allen holding him out for us would show how little he is, but it still doesn't do him justice. I just love that little guy. Good work to the new Mom and Dad!

Welcome to my backyard...
I would show you pictures of my house, but it's still a disaster from me moving in and being way too lazy to organize and clean yet. But it is awesome! Noah did such a good job picking a place to live without me. It was totally crazy to walk up the front walk of a house I've never seen before and knock, only to have my husband answer the door -- and he lives there! And technically, so do I!

It was 108 my first full day here...whew. But right now it's a cool 98.6 and the sun is out of my backyard and the hose is running making it seem even cooler. We have a nice little backyard, and if anyone wanted to come see it, I'd be more than willing to set up the sprinkler and you could play as much as you wanted! Haha, yeah right. I know we are WAY too far out of the way to just pop in...but maybe if some of you wanted a really warm fall or spring break, you'd manage to make your way down. I actually really like it here. And I think the heat will be okay...as long as I don't have to be out in it too much.

Anyway, I'm alive and kickin...I know I haven't really updated too many of you. Keep me updated as to what is happening in the cooler parts of the world... So far since being here, I've read 3 books, watched 8 hours of SYTYCD, and rented a movie from RedBox everyday :) If anything more exciting than THAT happens, I'll let you know. I love and miss you all!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: EUROPE PICTURES FROM BILLIE SUE, TERE, NOAH, AND MYSELF ARE LOCATED AT...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53223743@N00/sets/72157605559641959/
Take a look!!!

New Update!

Giselle out in front

Just after the dance, doesn't she look amazing!

Tower Bridge (London)

I just got home from London last night and decided that it was finally time to update the blog! Giselle's team did well with the latin competition and ended up taking 4th out of 8 really strong teams. The team was happy with their results (they were up against the world champions and the european champions and still managed to give them a run for their money)
We were all very proud of them and watching Giselle dance out there was really exciting and emotional as she accomplished her goal of competing against the best after so many years of hard work and training. After Blackpool we headed down to London and finished up our trip there. I'll post more pictures of that later. Good job Giselle!!
Giselle will be home later tonight and then she'll be driving down to her new home (she's never seen) down in Gilbert, Arizona!