"the whole fam damily"

my parents and their grandchildren

my cute brother and his wife

the 7 kids

how cute are these kids?

the girls

the boys

the title here is especially dedicated to my dad who commonly uses this phrase.  the last time my family got family pictures taken was the week before i left on my mission, so a good 3.5 years ago.  (this is why i made blake promise that we would have family pictures every year so we don't let so much time go by between them.  pictures are important to me.)

family pictures

when blake and i got married, i made him promise me that we could have family pictures at least once a year.  our family is just me and him right now so a greater chance of getting both of us to look at the camera at the same time.  we took these photos at ASU because that is where we dated and where we got engaged.  if anyone doesn't know the story of us getting engaged you can ask us, but for sentimental reasons he proposed on the top level of the ASU institute parking structure.  the end photos are taken up there.  we also wanted to get photos near the business school on campus since that is where blake spent all his time while there but unfortunately the fountains out in front of them were under construction when we showed up to take the pictures.  a big thanks to my very talented cousin, Brittney Florence for taking the photos for us.  

 

nashville

last week i was in nashville for the ADHA CLL and HOD.  it was such a wonderful experience and i loved meeting new people and talking about the future of dental hygiene.  i flew there wednesday the15th of june and left tuesday the 21st. 
juliet is the student delegate from district XI and i am the alternate student delegate.  i learned quite a bit how the view of our district differed from the view of other districts.
i had a wonderful roommate, joanna from new york.  i couldn't have asked for a nicer roommate.  i had a great time getting to know her a little bit.
mama T was our student liaison and kept us informed.  she knows her stuff.

me and joanna

me and juliet

AZ delegates

mama T and her children

our wonderful trustee for district XI

my wonderful teacher

it was a fun week, but i missed my husband.  i flew from nashville to san diego to meet up with blake and his family for our yearly beach vacation.  unfortunately i did not pick up my camera once.  i was afraid of getting sand in it or dropping it in the water.  plus, angela takes way better pictures than i do so i just leave that to her.

otter pops

i am so in love with otter pops.  in summer they are a must have.  here are a few pictures from my mission of my otter pop love.  

 second transfer sister palamarchuk would eat them all the time...

...but not as often as sister cross and i.  this was a typical breakfast for us.  i would always grab one on our way out the door and would have to finnish it by the time we got to the light at the bottom of the hill because we were not allowed to eat on or near temple square.  even in the coldest of winter i would eat these frozen treats and love every moment of it.  

also, i miss sister cross and my other mission friends, but right now especially sister cross as i look at this picture.  we had some good times.

blessings

well i just got on here and realized that it has been a good while since i have posted anything on here.  my last post was about my job search.  God was watching out for me and lined things up for me to go back to my old job getting paid more than i did when i left to start school.  so i can pay our bills while we patiently wait for blakes career to take off, which will i have no doubt.  he is so talented and works so hard.  he is purely getting paid on commissions which is great for the long run but just a little stressful for this first little while until a deal goes through.  i'm so proud of my blake and so thankful for a Father in Heaven who watches out for us.

between work and being involved in the ADHA i have been pretty busy.  i am the alternate student delegate for district XI for the ADHA.  we had a district meeting in Anaheim, CA this past week followed by 3 days of participating in california dental hygienists association house of delegates and student house of representatives.  i met a lot of great people and really enjoyed getting into the politics of dental hygiene.  i'm so excited to be in my field soon and as of now plan on being very active in the ADHA.  our next meetings are next week for our national convention in nashville, TN.

though i loved being part of these meetings, i missed my sweet husband.  this was the first time in well over a year and a half that we were apart.  i think it was a day in september of 09 that i didn't see blake for a day.  blake dropped me off at the airport on thursday morning.  he returned to the apartment and got very nostalgic as he looked through pictures and old emails and shed a few tears.  i love how much that boy loves me.  when i flew home sunday night i was so excited to just hold him in my arms.  i guess being away isn't the worst thing if it makes seeing him again so amazing.