Are you ready for battle?

I love waking up at 4:30 am for days like this....

With helmet in place with sword in hand

With the shield of faith we are worthy to stand

With the gospel of peace our feet are shod

WE have on the armour of God...

DO YOU?

Camping...for "real"

When Whitney asked what I wanted for my birthday I said I wanted to go camping...for "real". (Up to this point in our marriage our idea of camping has been defined by running water, showers, and a semi comfortable bed...)Why I would would want to subject ourselves to pesky mosquitos, smelling like a camp fire, and sleeping on the ground...I don't know. Something about a weekend in the woods sounded appealing at the time.

We left most modern conveniences behind and headed for the hills on Friday afternoon. Just Whitney and I... on the road again! We arrived at Canyon Point (east of Payson) a little before dark. I knew it would be cold, but I wasn't quite prepared for how cold it was! Our first order of business was to put together the tent we borrowed. This, for me, was going to be the "real" test of the entire weekend... and our marriage (from what I hear:)) All things considered, it went surprisingly well. Whitney later admitted that he had practiced putting it up before we left to avoid any marital conflict. What a smart guy!

The weekend was full of fun...good food, hikes, games, gifts, naps and lots of laughs. From our experience Whitney and I have compiled a list of things we learned (often the hard way)

1. ALWAYS BRING AN EXTRA CAMPING CHAIR...just in case one blows into hot ashes and burns while you are taking a nap!

2. THE EASIEST WAY TO START A FIRE IS WITH FIRE STARTER BLOCKS...just ask Whitney. Although the boy scout thing works...the fire starter block works faster! In 20 degree weather time is of the essence.

3. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GIVE UP THE SEMI COMFORTABLE BED TO CAMP FOR "REAL"... Anyone who disagrees must be oblivous to the fact that the ground is hard! No matter what anyone else says...its still camping if you are sleeping on an air mattress.

On a side note...

4. WHO EVER SAID THAT 'TO GIVE IS TO RECEIVE' MUST HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE WAY WHITNEY THINKS... He is a great gift giver and this year was no exception. In addition to a video camera, he gave me a hydration pack (for hiking)...not 1...but 2!! AWESOME!...one for the front and the back!?! Not so! Whitney quickly informed me that he gave an extra one so that I could give one to a friend...wink wink. Well I bet you can guess how that went! I don't think he's realized what he's started...can't wait until his birthday...

Snow Day!!!

We tried all winter to get the snow to come to us, but in January we finally conceded that if we wanted a snow day, we would have to leave the valley to go up north. Thanks to Margayle, we were able to spend the weekend in her family's cabin in Strawberry. Much to our dismay, when we arrived at the cabin there was no snow there either! Determined to use our sleds, we drove up to the rim country and this is what we found....

It wouldn't be a fun snow day if it didn't end in casualty...and Kamee happened to be the lucky one! After the initial shock of having your face used as a sled, we finally convinced her how cool it was and that she would be able to show grandpa how much fun she had... She bought it till we got back to the house and had to clean it....That part was not so fun but she was a trooper!

What do you love about Christmas?

I know its a bit late...but I love Christmas and am sad that the season went by so fast... The holidays for me were such a whirlwind of activities. I went from one activity to the next without any real time to think about what actually needed to get done. It seemed I left everything to the last minute and even had to put on hold some of our normal holiday traditions. No worries...my new years resolution is to start planning for the holidays in about March. Maybe that way I will be ready when they arrive!

This year Whitney and I decided to give each other homemade gifts. It seemed as though he knew what he was going to make for me since before Halloween. I tried my darndest to get him to crack (it has worked every other time), but this time his lips were sealed. On the day before Christmas he told me that I was not allowed to come home until 4pm. That was unusual...he must have been up to something so I questioned him further. He still wouldn't budge, but he told me that no one was coming over. So I went to lunch that day with a friend from work and happened to drive by the house (it wasn't on purpose...I live about 1/2 mile from where I work and you can see the house from the main road) Guess what I saw? yup you guessed it... a car that looked strikingly like his mothers.
When I got home she was gone and I had new shelving in the laundry room. Thank you so much! That was incredibly thoughtful and exactly what I wanted.

But wait...Whitney wasn't done. He got me the leather bound set of church history books (SCORE!), some jewelry, a cute outfit (thanks again to his mom), a computer, and my most favorite gift of all...a homemade scripture case with pictures of the Savior, of us and my family on it. I couldn't have asked for anything better myself. It meant the world that he would take something that I treasure so much (my scriptures) and combine that with the people that I love the most. If there was really a "perfect" gift that would be it!

As for my homemade gift to him you might ask? Homemade Salsa and chips! I know it seems a little lacking and it is...but he LOVES it or he just tells me that. Either way I know he still loves me!

Here are a few photos detailing our Christmas day:

Congratulations ASU graduate!!

I am so proud of you Whitney and everything you have accomplished. ASU will miss one of it's finest...but I can now say...welcome home! All of the papers you had to write (and I had to edit), the projects that you had to stress about, the powerpoint presentations you had to create, the computer malfunctions you had to endure, the miles you had to drive, the meals you had to skip, and the nights you hardly got any sleep... are all worth it in the end! Four years of hard work has finally paid off. A bachelor of science degree in construction management!

Who would have thought hard hats would come in so handy? It was about the only way we recognized Whitney...well that and the fact that he was larger in stature than most of his Indian engineer friends. I love you!

Congrats!! Whitney Buhn...(pronounced BOONE). Sorry about the delayed celebration. We almost didn't recognize your name!




Now you are on to your next big adventure. CORE is lucky to have you!

1...2...3...Shopping?!?

This year for the holidays CORE was having a toy drive for kids. Whitney and I decided that we wanted to participate and since we are severely lacking in the "cool toys for kids" department, we decided to invite Jayce and Kamee with us to show us how to pick out "cool" toys. Before we embarked on what some may have considered "mission impossible", (shopping for toys with kids?!?) I briefed the youngsters on the purpose of our shopping trip and explained that some little kid's parents can't afford to buy Christmas gifts and that we were going to buy some gifts for a little boy and girl their age so that they had something to open on Christmas. Before we left the car I thought we needed a peppy type cheer to really get us in the mood so I said "put your hands in and on the count of three say... "Shopping"!! Whitney gave me the most pathetic look...All you could come up with was shopping? I know it was lame ...but it didn't matter. The only thing that did was finding the perfect toy. We all parted ways and...

the boys found...

A Soccer ball and some transformer toy

And the girls found...

A barbie and stuffed puppy

We sure had a fun time...maybe this is the start of a tradition for the years to come!!

I love seminary!!

It only took 7 years since I graduated from seminary to love it...but I do!! This year has been so much fun. I have a great group of students who are absolutely amazing. When I get to class every morning they have the class set up and everything ready to go...I almost feel like some of my college professors that just walk right into class, pull the lesson plan from their roller bag (I haven't digressed that far yet...) and then say let's get started. Its great.

This year I wanted to do something special around Christmas time and knowing how musically gifted my students are I suggested something of a musical morningside. That is about where my input ended. The students ran with it and came up with all of the musical numbers and the entire program. We made cute invitations to invite family and friends....


and had a great turn out. It was more of a success than I could have imagined. I hope that everyone left that morning feeling as edified as I did. Thank you to all of my students who bore testimony of the Savior through both music and written and spoken word. You bore a powerful witness of the Savior's birth, life, death, and subsequent resurrection...what a wonderful reason to celebrate.

I love my job...

I love my job for so many reasons...the greatest of which is probably free tickets to great events! No worries Bishop...having a great boss is still high on the list!



When I found out that Celine Dion was coming to the valley I told Whitney I would love to go. (I wanted to see her show in Vegas, but we never had a chance) As luck would have it Whitney never had a chance to buy tickets because the concert was sold out in a matter of minutes. I was disappointed, but quickly got over it. Then I met Judy from Cigna...boy has she got the hook ups!! She called in a few favors and got me suite seats to the Celine Dion concert. Whitney was quite the trooper and joined us old ladies for the night! Thank you hun for entertaining my childish fantasies! I owe you some tickets to the FBR open...I'll see what Judy can do!