What this Blog is All About - Our Life

We have started a blog. Why? To share our lives with the many family and friends who don't live near us. Seems over the years everyone has scattered. (Or rather, we have scattered) Shane's Family in Idaho and Ginger's Family in Wisconsin. There are also the wide range of friends, all over the country, we have made through TurningLeaf seminars. We thought this would be a nice place to keep the world informed of our lives. (Those who dare, anyway!)

Taking Up Running! Really?!?

Ginger Writes “I am really starting to get excited about running a half marathon. Yep, that’s right. Sounds like it will be late August or early September, Not sure where yet and I can’t fully explain why I would be excited about running, I am NOT a runner. I am hoping to be working out the details in a few weeks while I am in Florida. BUT, I am going to do it! I purchased a book online for Rookie Half Marathon runners and by what I can gather I need to at least spend the next 8 weeks to prepare for the training. Yep, pre-training for the actual training. I almost laughed myself right out of my seat when I read that. According to this information I need to be able to run for 25 to 30 minutes straight before beginning the REAL training. Now, I have several friends who are marathon runners. You can’t live in St. George and not have friends who are marathon runners. I am hoping to sign up for the many 5K’s that pop up around here to help prepare for it.

So what else can I say? I am starting to learn that I need more than just losing weight as a motivation for working out. I need to be working toward something. It couldn’t come at a better time since I am trying to prepare myself for the wedding in September. The best part is that I don’t really care what size my dress is as long as I feel I am healthy. This is a shift that came over the last few years as I have learned to just love myself the way I am. Shane has been a big part of that. A day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t tell me how beautiful he believes I am. In some ways (Don’t tell him) I feel so comfortable with myself and my body, I haven’t had a motivation to get back in shape. BUT, that has now changed with the thought of working towards a fun life goal. I have always wanted to run a marathon. I never really thought I could do it though. Maybe by running a half marathon I can decide then if a FULL marathon would be realistic. If it is, I will plan to run the famous St. George Marathon. It will have to be in 2012 since I will be on a FUN Cruise during this year’s run.

Ok, I think I have rambled enough… Goodnight everyone!”

It's Been Way To Long...

Ginger Writes "Well, It’s been since August since I have posted anything on here. Part of it is that so much has been going on I get overwhelmed wondering if I can get it all in a post. I also start to wonder.. do people really want to read about our lives? BUT, I finally decided to stop worrying about it and just start typing to see what comes out. If you are reading this now, it’s because you want to, not because we have forced it on ya! Hahaha.

Currently, this week, life is pretty calm. Shane and I are gearing up for a trip to Florida on the 10th to visit My Mom and Grandma. I am excited because by coincidence my brother and his wife are also going at the same time. They will be there for the whole week and we are meeting up with them on that Thursday. I am so excited to give my niece and nephew a great big hug and kiss. I don’t see them as much as I wish I could. It’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait!

My Mom and Step Dad came to visit in September. Wait, maybe it was October. Wow, I can’t believe I can’t remember which month! Well, anyway, they stayed at Shane’s parent’s house and we had a blast! I enjoyed every minute of it! It was fun for my two worlds to collide and for everyone to get to know each other. Only thing that would have made it more perfect is if Shane’s Dad could have been there. He was on the road that week so we missed him dearly.

The end of 2010 brought some tears and sorrow. Shane’s beloved Grandfather passed away. We were grateful we were able to get up to Idaho to visit him in November, but it was a difficult several months for his family. The passing of a loved one is always so hard. I personally have not figured out how to deal with loss. I am not sure anyone ever does. My biggest fear in life is losing the ones I love. My heart went out to everyone involved. We went up to Idaho for the burial, and although it was nice to meet more of Shane’s family, I sure wish it could have been under different circumstances. It was pretty amazing to see so many people at the graveside service. A quick scan counted more than 100 people in attendance. Shane and I will be blessed to touch even a fraction of the lives his Grandparents did, and I wish I could have gotten to know them better.

Christmas came and went. It was simple. Shane had to work so I spent the day with my “Other” family. The Nixons and the Taylors are always so good to me and I feel so grateful I always feel at home with them. I did, however, get to have a late, late dinner with Shane and his parents and then we spent time at their house exchanging presents. It reminded me of the late nights at my Dad's house with his family and I found myself a little home sick. I enjoyed every minute of it and LOVE the family I will be marrying into.

New Years was AWESOME. Shane did not have to work that night so we had ourselves a little party with our friends. We had TONS and TONS of food and games, it was so much fun!! It was our first official New Years together since last year he had to work. I really loved getting a midnight kiss!

The first week of January I made my final payment on a piece of debt I have been paying off since I moved away from Wisconsin. It was the last piece holding me to my past and well, I gotta say, it was such a great relief to see the check clear the bank. Shane and I had ourselves a mini celebration with a trip away to Zion’s. Zion’s is probably my favorite place on the entire planet, so to say the least.. IT ROCKED! Of course, I still have some of my own personal stuff I am paying off but I am on track to be 100% out of debt before the Wedding in September. Shane and I have had several people ask us why we are having such a long engagement and this is the main reason why. I always told myself if I ever got married again I would be out of debt before it happened. Not that I wouldn’t marry Shane if I still had debt but it is going to be pretty sweet to actually see something so important to me happen. I am very blessed to have a few things in my life contribute to getting out of debt. First, SHANE… he has let me use his Jeep for some time now and there is NO way my precious 98 dodge neon would have survived the many trips up to Cedar City and back. It takes a real Man to give up such a cool car to drive around a Neon. The second are Dean and Andrea. When I made the decision to move out of my apartment and in with them, it came when all of us needed help financially. It was a WIN, WIN for everyone. BUT it has been the biggest contributor to paying down what felt like a never ending pile of debt that would haunt me forever and ever. I have learned my lesson for life… with the exception of maybe one more car and then a mortgage, every purchase from here forward will be with cash. If I don’t have cash to pay off the card I make the purchase with (Because everyone should still use reward cards) I won’t have it. PERIOD!

I have saved the hardest thing to type about for last. If you have made it this far without falling asleep, beware that what I have left to share is sad. When I met Shane 2 years ago, he told me he had an awesome yellow lab that was unlike any other dog I would ever meet. I could tell he truly believed this but it was on our 2nd date, where we saw the movie Marley and Me, that I got a real understanding of the love he had for his doggy. He spent a good portion of the end of the movie trying to hide that he was tearing up. I must say, that even though he was embarrassed by these tears, for a 2nd date.. I was impressed. I didn’t get to meet Shane’s dog Kobe until several dates later when we went snowmobiling. The picture I currently have as my profile picture on facebook is from this first meeting. He enjoyed the snow and the excitement of getting to go somewhere in the back of Shane's Jeep. This was also the first time I met Shane’s parents and I could tell they loved Kobe Dog as much as Shane. I hadn’t fully learned what was so special about him on this first meeting, but I know I instantly loved him. He was friendly and sweet, and loved a great belly rub! Over the last two years I have learned firsthand exactly what Shane told me on our first date. Kobe Dog was the best doggy ever! He just loved everyone and every person who crossed his path. Everyone was touched by his gentle eyes and soul. A few weeks ago, Kobe Dog was not doing well. He wasn’t eating and having a hard time getting around. It was heartbreaking. Everyone was praying that he would come out of it but after a long, long night of no sleep and watching him in what seemed like pain… the very hard decision came to let him go. There were a lot of tears. I won’t get into details, because I am not sure it is my place to share them, but I can say it was one of the hardest things I have ever witnessed to see my future husband lose his bestest friend he ever had. Shane loved this doggy with all his heart because this doggy loved Shane with all his heart. It was an unconditional love that can only be given by a doggy. I have never seen anything like it, nor do I think I will ever see it again. Kobe Dog WAS the most special doggy I have ever met and he will be dearly missed.

So with that, I will end this post. I hope to start blogging some more and hopefully it won’t be a list of events to catch everyone up and put you to sleep. I have decided that I won’t be afraid to share my life in this blog, cause when I do, I feel more open and free. So here we go.. 2011 here I come! AND Aaron, if you made it this far, I promise I will post some fun stories of Shane for your personal enjoyment… hahaha. Just don’t tell him I said that"