I know, I know...

I know that I have a habit of appearing, and disappearing (such as last month when I posted a billion posts in a few days' time, and then disappeared for another month)...but this is as good as it is going to get, right now!

I am happy to say that business has been going well, and Jared and I have been staying busy. Our Flower Jewelry Wholesale Biz has slowed down (because we were marketing specifically to Alaska, and now that season is over), but we're hoping to begin marketing to other locates before the end of the year (i.e. Hawaii, Florida, etc). We're also rebuilding our catalog and tweaking and adding new items. Exciting!

The Wood Watches Rep business has been booming! Because of this, we think we will be ready to move to Mexico in January. Yes, I did say MOVE. In case you haven't been following this blog for long...Jared and I took the girls down to Mexico in the winter of 2008/09, and we fell in love with Lake Chapala, Jalisco (Mexico is divided into states, just like the US). This is central, near Guadalajara, and is located about 5 hours inland from Puerto Vallarta. It is located in the mountains in a beautiful setting with gorgeous weather (no heaters or A/C needed), and a simple village life that we love. Just thinking about it makes me smile!

:::sigh:::

So, we have about 2 months left in Utah, visiting with my parents who have been so gracious to let us live in their home with our noisy three children.

This summer has been almost surreal. I guess it is because I haven't experienced a non-Alaskan summer since 2001, and Jared hasn't since 1999. It was weird to know that each day the weather would be much the same (dry and warm or HOT!), and the sun would be shining! We decided to try to live it up, and enjoy some beautiful weather and activities!

We bought a Season Pass to Seven Peaks Water Park & Trafalga. We showed up at Seven Peaks on Labor Day to pick up our ID cards that get us into both parks. The water park was packed, so despite the girls' pleading, we told them we would return the next day to go to the water park. Instead, we went miniature golfing!

An Aside:

I call miniature golfing "Goony Golfing", which is the name of the park I used to go golfing at as a child in Topeka, Kansas. It was seriously awesome (at least when I was a child!), and I have fond memories of characters such as the big T-Rex who lifted his bone to reveal the hole:

Back to my story...

We skipped the busy water park, and went to Trafalga in Orem, Utah, instead. They have a nice course (although not nearly as cool as the dinosaur, ghouls and other crazy characters found at Goony Golf!).

We had a great time, and girls practiced their skills. This is a funny photo of Maiya golfing, because it makes it look as if she actually golfed. But her idea of golfing was a one-handed drag of the putter (?), and then picking up the ball to put it in the hole.

On second glance...maybe Maiya does have the ball hidden in her hand?!

Ella is ready to go on miniature golf tour...

The next day, after Ella got out from school, we held to our promise and drove the girls out to Seven Peaks Water Park for an afternoon of water and fun! When we arrived, there wasn't a soul there. AWESOME! A crowd-less park!

Well, awesome until we realized that the park was CLOSED.

And not just for the day...for the SEASON. Yup--you got it. Labor Day was the last day.

Classic.

So...we took the girls to a new outdoor "water park" in Spanish Fork (free!) where they ran around and seemed quite satisfied.

We also took them (on another day) to go raspberry picking at a local Berry Picking farm in Mapleton, Utah. We managed to down 2 1/2 pounds of berries by the next day.

My favorite part was seeing how much made it into the girls' buckets. Ella collected more than I thought she would...but Maiya didn't get ANY. That is because EVERY single berry she picked went into her mouth. Gotta love that girl!.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The summer is now over, and we are quickly moving into Winter. Not without some fun Fall weather, however. Last weekend it was dreary, cold, and rainy. The clouds were low on the mountains, and I almost felt transported back to Alaska. Well...ALMOST.

That is, if I could have ignored the construction, traffic, and overall nicety of the neighborhood here (Alaska is much more modest, to say the least).

But I must admit...it was a fantastic summer, and I do not regret leaving Alaska one bit!