We Are FAMILY.....

Maybe I'm a little toooo camera happy. Here's some pics from Az of me and my various family members:

Misti, me and Peggys baby Jonah

My and Cody.. he's the baby (and really not as dumb as he looks... for the most part;) )

me and my mama

James is my oldest nephew and has suddenly GROWN on me! I remember the day he was born!

Me and Amber- we seriously don't look anything alike

Holy closeup!

Grandma rocks..

Chad and I-- we've worked hard to get a pic without too much extra chin

Me and my neice Alexis

My aunt Pam-- she didn't know I jumped in this pic with her but it worked perfectly!

Lindsay and I on her baptism day!

me and my baby brothers Chad and Cody

Grandma LaRue and I again!

Another Cody and me

Blast from the Past

So.. I finally decided it's time to blog my trip back to Az. I had the opportunity to go "home" for a few days by myself to help celebrate my moms 60th bday and for a reunion with just the Lutz clan. I moved away from Safford when I was 18 and was only back shortly after that between my nanny jobs and moving to Tempe so I've been gone for 10+yrs now. A lot hasn't changed... but a lot has. Somehow though it felt like I never left! So many improvements have been made and I can 't help but wonder why the heck did they not do it while I was there??
Anyways I took some pics of places that were important to me or have since become important to me. Enjoy!
This is the house that I nearly drove into when I was 14. My friend let me drive her truck and I overcorrected the wheel and ran into these people fense and the car only stopped because the mailbox got stuck underneath the bumper. They never replaced the fence. I sure got into trouble for that one! 38hrs of community service!

This is the school that my dad worked at for several yrs when he died. He loved the kids and the job so much. When he passed, the administration was so supportive and wonderful. Even when he was sick, the kids made him cards and he felt so much love from them.

Safford High School... where I spent many wonderful and many hellish yrs of my life.

Another view of SHS.. this sure has changed too!

This is our seminary building. Believe it or not, I only ditched once and the teacher was quick to call my parents so I never did it again!

This is my grandparents old house. They lived right across from the old Thatcher HS and right on the highway. They have both since passed and it was sold and I guess renovated although you couldn't tell too much from the outside.

This is a little house by EA that many of my friends lived in so I went there often and hung out.

This is the LDS institute building at Eastern Arizona College. The yr I left, the added on to it too. My absolutely favorite teacher there was Brother Reed. I still think very highly of him!

The Eastern Arizona College fine arts center. I spent a lot of time here in choir, band and plays.

My dad has a sister- she died the day she was born. I'm glad they had a chance now to meet.

I barely remember my Great-Grandma Cantwell... but I have a vague recollection. She lived with my grandparents and I think she was missing an eye but I could be wrong. Anyways these are my great-grandparents.

This is my dads military headstone. The missionary tags are from my brother Chad and adopted brother Steven who were both serving missions when he passed.

Here's my dads beautiful headstone. This was the first time I ever saw it.

It was a little startling to see my name on it but he definately left a legacy!

This is my grandma and grandpa Lutz. I remember when my grandpa died. It was horrible. He was the first person I was close to to die and it was just horrible!!! Grandma Lutz died the day we moved into our house in Ga.

Mt Graham!

This is a view from the Thatcher park. Quite the contrast to what we see in Ga.

This is the house I grew up in.

This is the superstitious mountains that are right outside the valley driving from Mesa to Safford.

I can't tell you how many times I drove this freeway and got off on any of those exits!!!

The Fiesta Mall. I loved going to this one and Az Mills... not much else to do when you're single, young and with no responsibilities except a credit card you will later come to regret!!!

RED ROBIN!!! I used to work down the street from here so we would go here for lunch often.


So there's my trip down memory lane! It was a wonderful time and great to be able to enjoy the memories that were made at each place!

Easter Addictions...

This is the worst time for dieters and yet the most wonderful time of yr for them and the rest of the world... because they have officially brought out the

REESE'S EGGS!!!!

Some may think what's the difference between these and regular PBC? What you say? I'll tell you. MORE PEANUTBUTTER!!! If you look at those regular cups (don't get me wrong.. I wouldn't turn one down) they have a bigger percentage of chocolate around the edges so the ratio of chocolate and pb is more in the chocolate favor. However with the eggs, the chocolate covers the pb but only the pb. No extra edges or ridges. And the pb.. what did they do differently this time around to make them so darn irresistable? It's crumblier.. and has a tad salty taste which blends beautiful to the thin coat of chocolate. *sigh*


I want a Reese's Peanut Butter egg.... that's protein right?

What's gonna work... teamwork!

So the other day Reese had a HORRIFIC dental appt (2 more crowns) and he screamed and it was just a nightmare. He's crying, I'm crying, everyones getting annoyed. Ugggggggggggg. So I let him stay home from work because I think we both were just exhausted! But staying home from school doesn't mean playing all day. Oh no. I put him to work. I've been repairing our front steps and after I fixed the actual steps, its time to paint. So I gave him a paint brush and off we went. And he did great! I realized with him, he needs instant gratification. Just like his mommy!!! And of course when you paint, right away you see the fruits of your labor- whether they be good or bad.

Hopefully by this weekend since the weather is supposed to be good, we'll be all done with our front steps! THANK GOODNESS!!!!

Challenges

Life is full of them. It seems for me, challenges are a constant in my life. Today I faced a big one. Reese just turned 6. He is a freakin smart kid. It's amazing to me how far he has come this yr- he reads, he writes, he draws, he's very technological, etc.... and he is also very hard to handle. He is the type of kid that can find that small bit of weakness in a person and just feeds on it. If given a chance, he will eat you alive. And that today was our challenge. His poor church teacher is the sweetest lady! I couldn't ask for a better person to teach him. And man does he push her buttons. Lately during primary, he has to be the kid that's called on to help or to answer questions and if he's not, all you know what breaks loose. And while I understand that, no one else does nor should they and he looks like a massive trouble maker and causes a lot of disruption, headache, chaos, etc. He actually had to removed from his class today because he wanted to open his chair.. and because he knows he can do that, he doesn't think anyone else does... including his teacher! So he really gave her a hard time and there's only so much of other people kids one should have to take. So I'm at a loss as what to do. He has so much going on in that little body of his and he just doesn't know how to express it without taking on a superior attitude that a 6yr old doesn't need to be having. But like I said- he is such a brilliant kid! I just don't know how to center that, ya know? I feel bad for him because I know he doesn't feel understood and wants to be everyone friend even if they don't, I feel bad for his teachers because he wants all the attention when she has several other kids fighting for it too, and selfishly I feel bad for me because I get to my limit and just don't know what to do:(

And another challenge I'm facing is within myself. Believe it or not, I don't have a lot of self-confidence. As a lot of you know, I was teased a lot as a kid and it still affects me today. I have a bad self-image and assume that because of my outside appearance or life situations, people won't want to get to know me. And fortunately adults aren't always like that and don't torment like what I went through as a kid and thankfully I really do have some amazing friends. But the kid in me and recent experiences cause me to be afraid that I won't always have that. Silly I know but we all have those fun days when we need a pity party and this is my day. Lucky for ya'll, no one is invited to this party!

Sad Truths

It's time for a change. A big change. And only I can make this change.

I am unhealthy
I am overweight
I am pre-diabetic because of my weight and at risk for other health issues
I am out of shape
and it sucks!

So knowing these sad and ugly truths, it's now time to finally do something about it once and for all! I went and talked to a personal trainer at Body Plex who actually sat down with me and went over all the different factors I need to work on and what I can do, etc. And she was very sincere and actually WANTED to help me. I actually for once have a little hope that I can succeed-- I just need that little (okay.. BIG) push. So I'm making a little (okay.. BIG) investment and I'm going to work with her for 6-8weeks one on one and see if that give me that motivation and tools I so desperately need to get myself on track and eventually where I want to be. I'll be using my piano money for the next while to pay the money back but I'm sure it will be worth it. I want to make this change.
My first training session in next Thursday. Wish me luck!!!

Random Cute Pic of the Day

This is my friend Seth. His mom is one of my favorite people in the world so by association, he is my little friend whether he likes it or not. Even though he is a little younger than Rielly, I do plan to get them hitched up someday.

She sent me this pic of him in a little tux she found at one of our favorite consignment stores and I could just eat him up! So this is my random cute picture of the day... Enjoy!