R.I.P HAROLD "LOOP" HOHL

May has been a lil sad for me because on May 5th grandpa hohl passed away : / He was an amazing, loving, and incredible person. Grandpa fought for his country and stayed true till the day he died.

I was at work when I got the call that grandpa had passed. I tried to hold myself together, but once I started to work with my elderly patients I just broke down. I haven't cried that hard in years...probably since Jerry died. My boss, Mara, got me a replacement right away so I could go home and be with my family. Anna was home and I needed so much support so I stopped by her house. We decided to drive up to Show Low to be there for our mom.

Once I went back to work...I called my mom when I got off and said " I don't like old people anymore :( " Working with the elderly, now, feels like salt in a wound. I didn't think I would take grandpa's death this hard. Mom says there will be the days when you just want to give up and you feel there's no hope for the future, but with time everything will heal.

Grandpa's funeral is on May 29th, memorial weekend ...Memorial day I believe was his favorite day of the year. He has work hard for years to make memorial day full of honor, but still fun. That's why this weekend couldn't be a better one to celebrate his life of Love, Dedication, and Honor.

I like to believe I was the favorite of all the grandchildren ( haha ) because he was my HERO. I am going to truly miss him and sometimes wish he was still here, but like mom says time heals everything....

Thought of the Day is:

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile..

I can't believe it's already May! Life has been flying by so fast, I haven't had a second to catch  my breath till now : D

 Well during April I celebrated my 21st birthday and I went all out! I figured you only turn 21 once and I didn't want to ever regret not really celebrating that much. Haha silly I know. My sister took us to this country bar called tom ryans and it was so much fun. I recieved drink after drink after drink after shot after shot after shot lol all for free cuz I was the birthday girl :] Towards the middle of the night they announced that it was my 21st birthday and the lead singer of the country band made me go to the stage so he could sing happy birthday to me! I was sooooo embarrassed! But all n all I had an amazing time. Sami danced the night away with me too. I couldn't have asked for a better more amazing birthday.

Also in April Brandon and I celebrated 3 years of being together <3 We have had an amazing journey these past few years and I couldn't be happier. In two months we will be celebrating our first year of marriage ... and many more to come! Honesty, loyalty, patience, compromising, and TLC has brought us this far and will continue to make our love grow for life : )

Last but not least in April....I finally found a wonderful job where I will NEVER EVER EVER work weekends again unless I want to. I will work monday through friday 6-2pm doing the one thing I LOVE in life...caring for those who need help :] It may not be the most
glamourous job, but I believe its with out a doubt the most REWARDING job.

The month of FEB.

February was a busy month for us. We moved into our new home in East Mesa and we LOVE it. My mom came down to visit and helped get things organized...she also loves it :)

Brandon had school this month for a week. I was blessed to be abl e to pick up a couple extra shifts at work so that him not working for a week wouldn't impact us that bad. He is doing very well in the class and is very happy to be working.

Towards the end of the month we went to Gina and Trin's baby shower. I made her a baby cake in john deere colors, it turned out really nice. Trin, Brandon and the other guys went shooting while us girls had fun playing games and eating yummy cake. Their baby boy is due pretty soon and we can't wait to meet him. We send all our prayers there  way for everything to go smooth :) and as painless as possible.

Also in the month of FEB my mom got reunited with her first love ... 35 years later and they feel as if they never part. She is doing really well and is extremely happy. We love seeing her happy and enjoying life.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day here on out and always tries to think positive :)

*The McGown Family

It's FRIDAY!

I'm happy its friday, but not looking forward to a double on Sunday...
We went a looked at our new home in East Mesa and we really liked it. Brandon's brothers (matt and josh) will be staying with us untill they can get on their feet. Neal (our landlord) is putting all new carpet in and so then we can move in on the 5th. I couldn't be more excited to finally have our own place after 6-7 months of living with other ppl. It's been nice and I'm extremely thankful to have such good friends in our life.

I have to work tonight as usual, but tomorrow I'm hopin my good friend Sami isn't too busy so we can go out and have GIRLS NIGHT! Nothing more has been happening, so this post is pretty short, but that's the update from the past couple of weeks.

O wait... Yesterday during my lunch hour I decided to try this place called the Fresh Mint (healthy food) cuz I heard it was really good. I walked in asked for a take out menu and said "Can I add chicken to my salad?" O BOY! The lady was so affended and said "Mam this is a vegitarien resturaunt." I was so shocked I have never seen or been to one before and I felt so bad for asking for chicken. I walked right out of there pretty quickly cuz everyone was looking at me like I was a animal killer! I didn't mean to, but hey you find all sorts of interesting places down here in the valley.

It's the new year...finally!

Wow! Six months of marriage has FLOWN by! I know six months isn't long at all, but It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready for the big day. The first six months of marriage has been really good. I guess we are technically in the honeymoon stage, but I personally think we went through that a long time ago. Sure we have had our ups and downs, but we are very thankful that the good has always over come the bad :] I don't believe in "stages of marriage". I believe you take your life day by day and that everything happens for a reason. Therefore I look forward to the memories we will be making and adventures we will be taking in the near future.

I love starting the new year out with full time jobs. It feels so good to have a full time good payin job for me and for my husband...2009 was the best and the worst at the same time. The good: Brandon asked my mom for my hand in marriage on January 16, 2009 and of course she said yes. We set our date and got married on July 4, 2009. Unfortunately after we moved back to Arizona from Colorado to get married we became unemployed. Finding work was such a rough task for 2009. Brandon decided he wanted to have a career rather than a job that goes pay check to pay check so he decided to join the union for sheet metal work. I think its one of the smartest decisions he has made for his future. He tells me that work goes by so fast and thats one of the best jobs to have. He is working full time and going to school and I couldn't be more proud of him. I also have a job that I LOVE ! I work at a community in Scottsdale for the elderly. My job is very rewarding and I get paid great money so I guess its true you can have your cake and eat it to :]

Now in 2010 I believe good things will come our way because we are both so supportive of each other and positive; we make the most of every good and not so good situation. On April 6th I will be celebrating my 21st birthday and my sister is ALREADY planning the party! I love her! On April 10th we will celebrate 3 years of being together strong and I'm so happy for that. Then last but not least we will celebrate our one year anniversary of marriage on July 4th :D I look forward to what is to come in 2010.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year. Lets make it a more positive, loving, and caring year!

Christmas :D

We enjoyed our third christmas together in Show Low with both our families. My mom had her Christmas eve party and it was a blast. Colt, Kori and their babies were able to come and all our families. They really enjoyed themselves. We played some board games after all the kids opened their presents and had a great time. On Christmas morning brandon and I enjoyed some yummy coffee and waited till 8:30 to wake up everyone to open presents from "santa" haha. We recieved so many good things. And my mom really enjoyed her presents as well. I'm so happy we got to see all our friends and family and had the most amazing christmas yet!

Mom and I on Christmas Eve
Cash and Shannon


My love, matt, colt and peyton

Matt and My love enjoying some brewski's

Me, Mom, Aunt Sissy, and Jen

Kingston playing with all of Mema's snowmen

10 things I love the most :D

1.I love my family......

2. I love my husband and being a wife....

3. I love PUGS...

4. I love cooking and baking :]

5. I love Gary Allan!.......

6. I love my cowgirl boots and starbucks........

7. I love mossy oak purses....

8. I love old people......

9. I love christmas lights.....

10. & I love LLAMS!!............

For the Love of Life!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks with finals and all. Only three more days of school though.

Over the weekend Brandon had a good time at Brians house playin the heck out of COD (Call of Duty II) ha He loves that game...maybe a xbox 360 and COD II would be a good christmas gift....for next year lol. Doesn't look like we're gonna be able to have the christmas I was looking forward to. No christmas tree, no christmas decorations because we weren't able to get into a house before christmas BUT that just means next christmas is gonna be so much more fun and meaningful! We are going to be up in show low for christmas though to spend time with all our families...so I guess everything happens for a reason.

Moving on, lately it seems like everyone around me is pregnant :] Gina, Sami, Miki, and C. I am so happy for ALL of them though. Eventhough it seems like we're the only ones not pregnant we're not gonna let it phase us haha just kidding. I'm getting closer and closer to starting Nursing School and Brandon is getting closer to be working and getting more advanced with his schooling as well. So in the next couple of years we will have little ones ...maybe when Gina, Sami, Miki, and C are on their second baby :] and maybe by that time my sister may come around to having a baby also :D

Today 12/10/2009 we celebrated being together for 2 years and 8 months :D We have had so many good times and really learned so much about each other. I know we have a long ways to go BUT we also have a lifetime to experience the joy of learning. I wouldn't trade him for anything in this world. He means the absolute world to me and I would never do anything to ruin that. I know and appreciate how good I have it with the love of my life.

Have a good weekend full of FUN c:

Thanksgiving :]

YAY!!! For Thanksgiving :] Brandon and I spent Thanksgiving up in Show Low with all our family. We ate with his dad and he made homemade EVERTHING it was delicious, then a few hours later we went to my cousin Kevin's house for our second thanksgiving. My sister-n-law her daughter, sister and I went shopping on Black Friday... crazy I know but the stores had AMAZING sales :] Now were back in Queen Creek doing our day to day business.

My handsome husband and I at Kevin's house

Kevin cutting the delicious turkey

I love my brother :D

King loves tickles!

Tyler and Cody

Jayme, Cody and King

Kingston and Puddy cat

He's getting sooo BIG !

Anna and Rylie being silly

Mom, Anna, Grandma West, Me, Cody and Kingston

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

My mom and I had a great weekend in CALIFORNIA!!! We made a quick trip up to see my grandpa and some other family. Grandpa is doing great; he just loves the house he's living in. It's so cute to see all the old people together. My mom and I also had tickets to go to the PRICE IS RIGHT and it was AMAZING!!! So much fun...it was really neat to meet Drew Carey and to watch him work his magic haha. We got up at two, got to LA around four and waited in line till 12:00 pm ... they had us take pictures, do interviews, and visit so it went by fast. It was such a great experience. I can't wait to go again with all my family from california :]

Brandon and I are doing well just the same ole same ole, but time is really flying by .... I can't believe christmas is just 1 month away. I'm still working as a CNA and going to school and Brandon is doing well with his apprenticeship.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Halloween was a BLAST! We partied the night away with sami, marty, danielle, brian, harley, angie nate, his girl and micheal :] Handing out candy and seeing all the creative costumes these kids had on was great. I saw a few lady bugs, ninja guys, and mario but my favorite was tevor who was dressed up as a nerd who had the biggest weggie, it was hilarious! We enjoyed lots of drinking and games...later that night angie order pizza and this pizza had slices the length of my forearm, it was delicious :] Come three o'clock Brandon and I decided to go home after tryin to sleep on the couch was not very successful. Over all we had a great halloween, CAN'T WAIT FOR HALLOWEEN NEXT YEAR !!!

Vacation :D

Brandon and I just went on a trip to California with my mom and brother to visit our grandpa. He's doing great and I couldn't be more happy about that. We left of Friday 10/23 after Brandon's HVAC class and stopped in a town called Indio...I think lol. We went to the casino and gambled for the first time! I know I'm under 21, but you only have to be 18 at this one :D The first time we gambled I won 100 bucks and on our way back Brandon won 300 bucks. We gave it all to my mom because she was the one who gave us the money to gamble and she paid for eveything on the trip...she's so sweet!

We went to a halloween party my silly uncle buddy put on and we all had a good time. Cody tried so hard to get with this girl dressed up as bubble bee, but it didn't happen...even though he claims it did haha. Brandon enjoyed all the free beer he could drink therefore my aunt terri thinks I'm married to an alcohlic, but I can't blame him good beer + free = GOOD TIME!

My uncle buddy, malia and her best friend kelli
Needless to say we had a great time in California !

Broncos Game!

*Brandon started school today for his apprenticeship and I couldn't be more proud of him for choosing a career :D Something that will last him a life time not a job that makes you live pay check to pay check. Mean while I'm still going to school for nursing. I'm doing well in my classes and hopefully come March I will be accepted into the nursing program through PIMA. It seems like its never ending, but I know soon enough I will be all done and have a career of my own then we can start a beautiful family.

I'm looking forward to the BRONCOS game tonight. Can't wait to eat chips and salsa with my husband & brother in law !!!

The happiest day of our lives

*On July 4, 2009 I married the love of my life Brandon McGown. Gina Garvin was my maid of honor, she helped me in more ways than I thought I would need haha. I am very thankful to have had her be a part of one of the best days of our lives. Cody Carroll was Brandon's best man and he made the funniest and most interesting toast I have ever heard…all I will say is that he made a couple jokses about women lying about orgasims haha. My sister Annamarie, my cousin Malia were my bridesmaides. Brandon's two good friends Trin and Logan were also a part of the wedding party. We had delicious food, lots of guests and lots of dancing. Everyone had a great time!!! I give much appreciatein to my family and brandons family because without their support and help it would have never turned out as amazing as it did.Walking down the aisle with my brother You may kiss the Bride Dancing our little hearts out


Really feeding each other the cake ha!

Matt and Micheal showing off some dancing moves

Kevin, Cody, and RobbieMy Grandpa Bud had a great time
Mom and Cody
Can you guess what song they're dancing to?

Brandon and his crew

Cody and Logan

My Junior Bridesmaides (Kaylah and Tierra)

My flower girls (Cassy and CJ)

My train girl (Claire)

The Wedding Party

Life up-to-date

*Brandon and I met in March of 2007 and started dating in April of 2007. We enjoyed going four wheeling and definitely partying like young adults do. We took our first vacation in August of 2007 to Cleveland, Ohio. It was such an amazing experience to be surrounded by completely different people from Show Low people ha. After we got back from our little vacation we moved in together. Living together was great I learned to love his good and bad habits and he learned to love mine...I think thats how we work so well together (Compromise). A year went by and work started to slow down, so he had an opportunity to move to Grand Junction, Colorado and we took it. Brandon worked for the oil fields and I worked of course as a CNA (nursing assistant). We met so many great people in Colorado and had nothing but good times up there.

In Janauary 2009 Brandon sat down with my Mom and asked for her permission to marry me...then on 1/16/2009 the day after his 23rd birthday he got down on one knee in the parking lot and asked me to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. Of course I said yes and then cried cuz I was soooo happy! Shortly after we went to his parents house to tell them the good news. Everyone was so happy for us and most of them said ( ABOUT TIME haha)

We went back up to Colorado and a few months afterwards work slowed down and we decided to move down the Arizona (where we call home)

Now three months later we live in Queen Creek with our good friend Micheal W. Brandon got into an apprenticeship for HVAC Sheetmetal work thats five years long and I'm working as a CNA which is the most rewarding job for me. I'm working on getting my Nursing Degree also. Children are in our near future, but we would like to wait till we are more on our feet so we can give them everything they deserve and we don't have to struggle so much.

I can't wait to share more with you. Thank you for checking us out :D
God Bless!