North Carolina

Some of you know that I grew up in North Carolina. Well, my family decided it was time to go back and visit old friends and of course, go to the beach! This is the first family vacation that we have taken in a long long time where all the Carlson's could be there. We went and saw our old houses. One in Greensboro and one in Cary.

We also went to the Natural Science Museum-one of our favorites when we were kids. Everytime we went there, my mom would buy us rock candy and possibly a pet hermit crab. It's also a small zoo. The animals are way more active than they are at the SLC zoo.



The best part was for the second half of the week, we went to the infamous Shell Island Resort. It's a beach front hotel that we always stayed at when we were kids. My parents took us there almost every year when we were little.


This trip was literally a blast from the past. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. It was great to be able to see what were only fuzzy memories before. I was not able to see my old friends because most of them had moved away, but I was able to see my good friend Allison's parents, the Parkers. They haven't changed one bit!The humidity was awful, all the driving was awful, but bringing back my childhood memories with all of my family there was priceless

He's in!

We found out yesterday at 5pm that Aaron passed his FBI interview! As long as he can pass through his top secret clearance (including a polygraph test), he will officially be an FBI secret agent. He is ecstatic. He is most excited that he will be issued 4 different guns and a new black Dodge Charger affixed with hidden police lights....awesome. Unfortunately, he will be going to Quantico, Virginia this fall for 6 months. I am unable to travel with him, so I will be stuck in stupid Salt Lake for 6 months while he's on the other side of the country. Not only that, we're going to have to figure out what to do with our house we just bought in this down market. Sell? rent? keep? Unfortunately, the FBI will not buy our home with this first move, Aaron has to have a few years in the FBI before we get that benefit. However, I am confident that this is the Lord's will and things will work out how they are supposed to. Exciting times laced with unsureity.

Finally a Vacation!

After 5 years, Aaron and I finally traveled. Yes, I know it is a shock for all! We decided to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera with NCL. It was awesome! Our ports of call were Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and puerto Vallerta. We loved all but Cabo. I have no idea where those girls from The Hills go to in Cabo because I didn't see one nice hotel there! We hated all the stupid street vendors that chase you down 3 blocks trying to sell you crap. Speaking of which, we found it interesting that no matter which city you were in, all the street vendors were selling the exact same crap that was supposedly "hand made". I doubt it! We got swindled....I bought 2 "sterling silver" bracelets for $15 ( I was proud because I talked him down from $30), and then about 10 feet down the walkway, a vendor was selling the exact same bracelets for $1. Needless to say, we learned our lesson. I don't think we bought anything else after that...and don't even get me started on the $10 box of tampons (10 count) that we had to buy on the ship. Other than the money raping, it was the funnest vacation I've ever been on. We saw a whole bunch of whales and dolphins.

In Mazatlan we went on a walking tour of the downtown area. It was fun to see because the next week was their Carnival or Mardi Gras, the town was bustling and so colorful. After the tour, Aaron and I decided to go do our own touring and we ended up getting lost. It took us about 2 hours to find our way back to the ship by walking route. We even got to tour the slums of Mazatlan....how rustic (I prefer rustic over crack whore infested tin shacks). We didn't even go into Puerto Vallerta because it looked just like California, and I didn't get a passport to see a Mexican version of California (especially when across the street from our port there was a shopping mall, Walmart, and a Sams club). So we ended up going on a 7 hour tour of little secluded beaches that were only accessible by boat ride. The little towns were Majhauita and Yelapa. We loved Yelapa, it's a little town that is 120 years old and only got electricity 5 years ago. It was like touring an article from a National Geographic. Loved it! The beach in Yelapa was our most favorite beach the whole trip.



Best trip in the world, we were sad to come home

FBI

As some of you know, Aaron has been trying to get into the FBI for about a year now. The entire hiring process takes about 2-3 years and only about 10% of applicants make it through the whole process. Anyways, Aaron passed the initial written test (which typically weeds out about 60% of applicants) and he was called to have an interview about one year later....talk about a waiting game! Monday he flew to Phoenix for his interview...he said it was the hardest interview he had ever had in his life. Unfortunately, the interview is proprietary information so he could not tell a soul what was said/done-not even me! In about 2 weeks we will know if he gets to move on or not...we'll keep you posted!

fox family

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Huge stress lately! So every 4th Wednesday, we combine the mutual activity with 6 different wards and my Young Womens group was in charge this month. After much thinking, we decided that we would have a trash bag fashion show. Trash bag fashion is just that, you get a garbage bag and make that your main piece of attire, you then take whatever junk you can find and make an actual garment out of it all. We split the girls up into groups and had 2 models in each group. Wow, they were all so creative!!! They all had so much fun with the activity. At the end, we had a runway fashion show to some awesome music so that all the girls could strut their stuff. All the stress of planning and shopping was worth it! Everyone had a great time and the girls were so funny and creative. Loved it!

Wow, it's definitely been awhile....sorry. I'll catch you up. I was lucky to have Christmas off of work, so I was able to spend all of Christmas with my family, both Aaron's and mine. It's tradition to have breakfast at my parent's house and then open presents.
In the afternoon, we always go to Grandma's enchilada dinner. She is 100% Mexican and man can she cook! Everyone looks forward to her enchiladas every year because she only makes them on Christmas day. She's 85 years old and she makes everything from scratch, including the tortillas. She's incredible, but it is really hard for her to do all that work. We appreciate it very much though!
The food was fantastic and what made it even better is that I got everything I wanted for Christmas!!! My most favorite gift this year was from Aaron. I finally got my kitchen aid mixer!! I've been wanting one for about 3 years now, but we've always been too poor to buy it.

Aaron also surprised me with the watch I've been wanting for months too. It's a Nixon Vega watch in the Mirror style. Apparently that style has been discontinued. On Christmas Eve, Aaron was able to get out of work a little early and he called all over Utah to try and find this style watch. Finally he found one in a shop up in Park City. On Christmas Eve at 6 pm, he drove clear up to Park City to get this watch for me. I think that was one of the sweetest things he's ever done for me.