Friends

 Friends are awesome and I have always been grateful for the many friends I have been blessed with throughout my life. When I married Chad I gained a bunch of new friends including Pat & Sarah, they are those friends that you just click with, they are such great people, Chad and I really enjoyed spending time with them especially because we all enjoy the same things, they are huge outdoor enthusiasts. 

Well Pat & Sarah left us last summer for greener pastures, they moved back to Sarah's home state of Florida! I ran across this photo the other day and it made me realize how much I miss them! Thanks for being such great friends you two, we miss you and hope to come visit soon!

This is us with Pat & Sarah and their little girl Kathryn

To Hug or not to Hug? No Question!

I have something to confess I have an aversion to hugging, there I said it and it feels so good! I believe it is truly genetic, I come from a long line of non-huggers and we are all aware and totally ok with it. We are a family full of love and I believe the way we show it is much more meaningful than with a silly hug. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think there is anything wrong with hugs in fact there is one hug I never mind giving or receiving and that is my Gma Hall’s, there is a powerful love behind her hugs and I can feel it, plus she loves hugs more than anything, but she is easily classified as a “hugger.”

My extended/immediate family has often discussed the fact that we are not huggers and if for some reason we do hug it is ALWAYS a side hug, you know the not so committed one armed hug, this is the preferred hugging method amongst my mom’s family that is if a hug must happen. My sisters and I rarely hug and if we do we know it’s just not right. We have a deep love for one another and there is something refreshing about knowing it without a hug being involved. This post was inspired by last nights events as my little sis came over to say goodbye because she left back to Rhode Island today we chatted for a bit and then said our goodbyes I walked her out and she left, no hug, nor was one needed we know we love each other, right Kaitie?

Do non-huggers find other non-huggers? Not always, my mom and dad for instance, Mom – non-hugger Dad – Hugger. It was at least true in mine and Chad’s case he is also a non-hugger however I love being wrapped in Chad’s arms anytime, but that’s different! I have the best friends in the whole world I will never ever deny that, we care about each other so much and would do anything for one another, yes we hug but not all the time just the important times like weddings or if we haven’t seen each other in while.

I found a How-to on hugging on WikiHow.com for you huggers out there and even you non-huggers you might like to read up on this.

1. Approach the person. It will be easy. Depending on the person's relationship to you, you might want to approach differently:

•  Family Hug: Approach kindly, but not too emotionally.
• Friend Hug (girls): Approach caringly, sometimes humorously, and smile.
• Friend Hug (guys): Approach genuinely, smile sweetly and if he is hugging another just make it obvious you're uncomfortable and he'll feel you deserve a hug too
• Crush Hug: Approach carefully, but do not seem shy. Smile slightly and perhaps say a caring word or two.
• Lover Hug: It doesn't matter who starts this; either can make it just as romantic. When approaching, put your hands on their shoulders and look them in the eyes. Say you love them, how much you care for them, and how much you are loving every second with them. Then fall into each other and hug with all your heart.

2. Embrace. Lean forward and wrap your arms around the person.

• Family Hug: You can keep talking when hugging; it will not ruin the momentum. Where you place your hands is not important; the hugged won't think it over too much. Press gently; it is not necessary to have head-contact. Stroke your hands quickly across the top of the hugged's back. Smile when letting go.
• Friend Hug (girls): Close your eyes and think about how much you love your friend when hugging. Press as much as you feel like. (But don't squish!) Do not clap the hugged on the shoulders or such; some girls think you don't like them if you do it that way.
• Friend Hug (guys): Embrace strongly, and clap each other on the top of your backs. If it's an emotional moment, keep in the hugged position for a brief moment and do not clap each others backs.
• Crush Hug: Press the hugged warmly towards you. If you are a man, her arms should be around your neck, and you should be embracing her around the waist. When pressing her against you, you can lift her up a bit, pressing her chest and upper stomach against yours. Keep it in that position for a while, and then let go. Look her in the eyes when you separate and continue the conversation naturally. If you are the woman, put your arms behind his neck and press your chest lightly onto his chest.
• Lover Hug: 1) Males: Carefully sliding both your hands down from her shoulders, put them on her waist and slide them around her lower back. Put your head on her shoulder and press her towards you for as long as you like. If you want to, you can give her a small massage with your hands, and try to warm her. When separating, you can look into her eyes, smile genuinely and, if the situation is fitting, kiss her like you mean it and include some hair massage. 2) Females: Extend your arms toward him and hold them around his neck and shoulders. Lean as close as possible and press your torso against his. In situations of extreme intimacy, interlocking your leg in his is appropriate. Avoid holding your arms below his shoulders and/or embracing strongly and tensely, even if you're about the same height as him. It might seem weird but it'll work!

3. Don't hug too tightly. The best way to judge how tightly or loosely to hug is to let whomever you're hugging indicate what they want by how hard they squeeze. If they are soft, be soft back; if they like bear hugs and squeeze tightly, hug back the same way (but don't suffocate him/her).

4. Don't let go too early. A hug is a powerful way to communicate your caring for another person, as it can feel great and greatly improve one's mood. If someone hugs you, they may want a long, loving hug (maybe they are upset or down), so just go along with it and hug them until they let go or loosen their hold. If you try to end it early, it may seem awkward for both of you.

• A good approach no matter what your relationship with the person you'll be hugging is...walk up to them from a few (maybe 3) feet away, arms open. When you get to them, wrap your arms around approximately their midsection. Hold for a few seconds, then let go.

Let’s talk about #4, how long is too long? For me if I have to hug I like it to be as short as possible. I get that someone might need a long hug, but I’m pretty sure there is someone else out there willing to give you the hug of a lifetime and if there really is nobody else I might compromise a few seconds.

Any of you non-huggers out there trying to turn a new leaf and try the hugging thing well then the above tips are for you! I think they are quite funny and who knew there was so much that went into hugging? Just one more reason to stay away from it all together!

Warnings!

• Do not confuse a friend hug with a lover hug. Things might get complicated and awkward. (this is my favorite!)
• Unless you've hugged the person before, don't hug them without asking first. In addition, use your best judgment in choosing when and where to hug someone. There are certain situations where one might be embarrassed to be seen hugging someone else.
• Hug only when the person you want to hug has their arms out, they may not want to be hugged if their arms aren't out.
• Avoid a hug with a running start unless the person being hugged is aware you are about to do so, if not, this may result in both of you falling over.
• Make sure you are not stinking when hugging, or else she will run away from you next time. Try to use mild deodorant on your body.
• Bad breath may drive away your partner. Get your breath check before you proceed.

http://www.wikihow.com/Hug

To all of you non-huggers out there, there is nothing wrong with you it is perfectly normal to show your affection in other ways and to all of you huggers out there I have nothing against you and I actually admire you just think of this quote when you don’t get as many hugs from those of us non-huggers…

“Just because somebody doesn’t love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with everything they got” –Author Unknown

*I must clarify that hugs from the kids in my life make me happy I omit them from my self proclaimed non-hugger status.

"Jump Around, Jump Around, Jump Up Jump Up and Get Down"

 Apparently I like to jump...in a swim suit...in various places around the world

That is all.

 Havasupai by Navajo Falls 

(just to the right is where my life flashed before my eyes the previous year, but that's a story for another time!)

Caribbean cruise, this was in the Bahamas. The sand was like walking in warm flour, it was heavenly!

Lake Powell = Awesome, hence the jump!

I just remembered this sunset pic from a photo session with my cousin, I'm not in a swimsuit!
www.photographybyjocelin.com

The Spartan Race

 Last Saturday Chad did the Spartan Race at Soldier Hollow. This is no ordinary race, it is 8+ miles of hills, heat and obstacles! I tried to get pictures of all the obstacles that I could see but there were so many more.

 Here's a nice group shot just before the race

 There's Chadwick smack dab in the middle getting all pumped to run for 8 miles

  There's Mr Spartan man

 And they're off...

 Here is one of the obstacles, they had to throw javelins into these hay bails if it didn't stick they had to do 30 burpees, Chad had to do the burpees

 Chad said he flew over this one no problem, which is good because I watched so many people get to the top and then slip and fall down, I just want to know how you get to be the guy with the hose, wait until they get to the top and then spray them down!

 This one was awesome, army crawl in the mud under barbed wire, Chad said it smelled like horse crap which it probably was

This was right after the army mud crawl jumping over the ring of fire

I missed the best part, Amanda and I walked back to the finish line so I could get a picture of Chad fighting the Spartans to cross the finish line, after 45 minutes I started to get worried, I watched as his friends came in one by one so Amanda and I decided to start looking around to see where he could be. Well it turns out he already finished, I totally missed the whole thing. Even though I missed it I couldn't be more proud of my Darling Chadwick, he ended up finishing 16th overall way to go Bambino!

"I'm an athlete" - Chad Whiting

 Chad tells me all the time how he's an athlete he reminds me of Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox! Here he is right before the Dirty Dash, he's so clean! PS uploading this picture and seeing myself I just came to the conclusion that I am going brunette again after the summer is over.

 Here's the Canyon Sports crew

 Beginning of the race nice and muddy!

 There's my Darling Chadwick starting the slippery hill, Amanda and I watched so many people biff it on this hill

 This looked so fun until they all told me that it was covered with dirt and sand it cut them all up

Here's Chadwick on the home stretch he just made it out of the mud pit

They all managed to stay pretty clean compared to a lot of people I saw

I grew up with 2 little sisters and even though now I wouldn't trade them for anything I can't say I felt that way when I was growing up. I wanted a brother so bad and I would have traded them for one! I always felt like I was missing out on something, a wild and mysterious world outside of a house of girls. As I started getting older I realized I may never have brothers but I had the next best thing...COUSINS! 

I have often felt how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family, we are all so close and our family get-togethers are far from boring. I may be a little biased but I believe these guys and all the other men of my family are the greatest guys on the face of this earth! Chad has made several comments to me about how impressed he is with these guys in his words "they are the most genuine people I have ever met." I am grateful for the example these guys (and my two cousins-in-law) have had on me, I knew the kind of man I wanted to marry and it's because of them. Chad came into my life and I knew he was what I was waiting for!!

Dinseyland!

I've been hearing so much about Disneyland lately, from those planning trips or recent trips. It made me think about one of my favorite trips to Disneyland so I decided I would post some pics from a wonderful trip with some dear friends!

 This was the first picture of the trip pulling out of  Zach's house. Eric is resting his arms on the cooler that plugged into the cigarette lighter and kept our drinks cold. Cold drinks and lots of treats we were ready for the long night we had ahead of us!

 This was our last stop before we finally made it to Anaheim. Some gas station in the middle of the night, we were too excited to be tired!

 We finally made it to our hotel at about 5 am, took a quick nap then we made our way to the happiest place on earth! Can't you tell how happy Jenny and I are!

Here we are with Mr Potato Head waiting for our favorite ride...Toy Story Mania!

 We're ready to go

Don't we make great Coppertone girls?

Just looking over California Adventure

Maestro Mickey!!

Way to get into character Zach!

Looks like Jenny and Eric have themselves an admirer

Here we are in our sweet ride!

Yay we waited and waited and finally Classic Mickey!!

So Jenny and I convinced the boys to wait in line with us to see the Princesses and wait we did...for 1 1/2 hours! There was only one princess I was dying to see and that was Aurora since they rotate I thought what are the odds she'll be in there when it's our turn. Well as we were approaching our turn we asked the worker which princesses were in there and Aurora was one of them, imagine my surprise! Here we are the next group of people to go in and we see Aurora walking out...NOOOO!! So my wonderful friend Jenny knowing how disappointed I was started yelling Sleeping Beauty, Sleeping Beauty once she caught her attention we motioned for her to come over to us and she did!!

I got my picture with my favorite princess!! I felt like a 6 year old I was so happy!

Oh Snow White!

Cinderella taught us how stand like Princes and Princesses

What?! Is that the Fairy Godmother? Why yes it is, apparently she's very rare so we felt very lucky. The boys were less than thrilled with waiting in line for that long just to see princesses but the magic overpowered them and we all skipped out of Princess Land holding hands while rainbows formed all around us, maybe that didn't happen but I think we all remember it that way!

To infinity and beyond! We were so lucky to see so many awesome characters!

Tower of Terror I love you! Disney workers were on fire the weekend we were there, they were so punny we loved it...ie "Welcome to the Tower of Terror, where the rates are always dropping mwaahaha!"

Zach's favorite Character is Donald Duck we searched the whole park for any sightings of him and one day we finally spotted him only we were too late they weren't letting any more people line up so poor Zach could only see Donald from afar.

Poor Zach all of his dreams dashed

In the meantime Jenny and I found Minnie!

What's this? Donald and Zach finally together it was a happy moment for all of us!

This is our last picture of the trip, leaving Disneyland, Zach just wasn't ready to go, he shed a single tear. What a perfect ending to a perfect trip!