They are here...

It took a bit but they have finally arrived!!! Go on over and check them out!

www.affordabledesignerstyles.blogspot.com

Check it out.....

I have finally decided to take the plunge and start my own small business. After a lot of careful consideration I am excited to introduce all of you to:

A.D.S.

Affordable Designer Styles

We will be really small to start, only caring a few styles and sizes of designer jeans for men and women. We can do special orders. We can't wait to eventually be able to do parties featuring a large variety of clothing, benefiting hosts to earn free clothes. Check out the new blog, http://www.affordabledesignerstyles.blogspot.com/, and I would love your feedback or questions at my email, and_aguirre@yahoo.com

Thanks family and friends!!!
Annie

Happy 8

I have to say that it is really crazy to think that it has already been 8 years of married life. When I sit down and think about life before marriage to the greatest man on earth, (just my opinion but I am a little biased), I really can't even remember what it was like. To commemorate this special occasion and for my own journaling purposes lets go back in time and see how it is exactly that Nic and I ended up together.

The first real memory I have of Nic is about 1994 I was about 12 years old. We were both working for a man in our ward who owned a carpet company. He installed carpet and I cleaned the store on Saturday mornings.

Fast forward a couple years to Nic going on his mission. I was now 14 and my sister and I took him some treats the night before he went into the MTC. All I remember was him having about 4 girls come to say goodbye to him. He will probably tell you different but he kissed all of them.

Now two years later I am 16 and he is home from his mission and now my Sunday school teacher. He never actually taught us anything I don't think. Just asked us about our lives and what we had going on. Class always involved donuts and chocolate milk! (He tells me now that at the time he thought I was hot, still weird because I was still in high school)

A year later I was dating his little brother, I was 17. When he went on his mission I still would go visit with their family and be invited to family parties. I remember going with Nic to buy a gift for his niece, he bought her a prince Barbie and I bought the princess to go with it. Everyone says now that they knew we would end up together because we were always together at these gatherings. (But in our defence I don't remember having any feelings for him in that way).

A year later I had graduated and moved to Louisiana to be a nanny. Nic was living in California selling alarms. We both just so happened to come home to visit on the same weekend and saw each other at church. Later that day I stopped by the Aguirre home to say hi to his parents and visit. Nic was there and asked who my friend was that I had brought to church. I told him who she was and we agreed that after the summer and we both moved back to Utah we would set each other up with a friend and go out on a double date.

September of 2000, we set a time to go out. He set me up with his friend and I set him up with my friend. We went to the symphony. I was living in an apartment with my sister and Nic came to pick me up. I remember being attracted to him for the first time. The whole night I was thinking to myself how mad I was that I wasn't on a date with him, (I love you Dan and had a great time, don't get me wrong).

For a couple weeks we would get together with friends and do the silly things that single people do, all the while my feelings for him were getting stronger and stronger. I really had no idea whether or not he had similar feelings. Keep in mind I am supposedly 'waiting' for his little brother who is still on a mission, making my feelings and thoughts way complicated and confusing. Finally one night after we had gone to a party in Park City I decided I was going to tell him how I felt and see what he thought! After a long conversation we realized we both had been feeling the same way. Knowing that a relationship between us would bring up some problems in the family we decided to not 'date' but to continue to be friends and see where things led.

Shortly there after I wrote his little brother to tell him that my feelings had changed and I no longer wanted to wait. I did not tell him that I was wanting to date his brother! It turned out ok and Nic's brother and I both had the same feelings of not wanting to continue our relationship, after all I was only 16 when he left and how many 16 year olds know what they want anyway and two years is a long time for people to grow and change.

Nic and I decided that if we were to date it would have to be the real deal and after a couple months of pretending to be ok with friendship we decided it was worth the risk. I kissed him first, all though he will tell you different.

Needless to say his Dad and Mom were not happy. They were worried about his little brother and didn't want him to get hurt. I guess after knowing that I had let him know it was over and him agreeing, they decided it was ok and started accepting the fact that Nic and I weren't just a silly little irresponsible thing!

After a few months of dating he proposed to me on Christmas night 2000. I swear to this day that I had no idea, even when he went down on one knee I didn't know what the heck he was doing. A great Christmas surprise!

On May 18th, 2001 we were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Although our relationship was complicated and one of the worst Mormon tales of 'Your older brother stealing your girl while your on your mission', it was worth it. And seeing how his younger brother is now married to a great lady and who is now a good friend to me, I think it is safe to say that things worked out the way they were meant to.

Our 8 years have been a roller coaster of emotions. We have had the bad times but have also seen the best. We have grown from being kids who like each other a lot to somewhat less child like in love, (we are still kids really). We have welcomed 2 beautiful children into our lives and also seen 2 that didn't make it to our home. We have gone from one career to the next and then back again. We fight and disagree but always find a way to come back together and work it out. We have learned to let the little things go and accept each other as is. We have set goals and made them and set goals and not. We have supported each other through tough times, but also celebrated with each other through the good. 8 years have flown by and been amazing. If the next 8 or hopefully 58 are equally great I can't wait! (You like my rhyming?)

I love you Nic!

Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon

Well I did it, I survived my next 1/2 marathon. Not only did I survive it, I kicked its butt!!! I beat my first race time by 30 minutes and 34 seconds. OK, granted I was just lucky to finish my first one at all so I was happy with any time at all. But I am really proud of the outcome of this race.

This race was so much fun! That's not to say that I wasn't way nervous leading up to it. I was a nervous wreck. I think its because I had done it before and so I knew what to expect. But this race was much better than my last. I was much better prepared physically for it and it payed off in ever way, I was faster, my muscles didn't cramp up and I was not nearly as sore afterwards.

Saturday morning in the car on the way there I was of course freaking out, but once we got there I was just ready to go. It could have had something to do with the fact that I thought the race started at 7:30 and we got there at 3 minutes to 7, and apparently it started at 7. Just enough time to do a real quick stretch, turn my ipod on, give Nic a kiss and butt in line!!! There were so many people, it took me 1:22 just to cross the starting line. Fortunately they were using the chip system, (everyone has a chip on there shoe so that there time starts when they cross the starting line and ends when they cross the finish line). Just to give you an idea of the mass of people there were 1067 marathon finishers and 4125 1/2 marathon finishers, not to mention all the people that started the race but for one reason or another didn't finish. The good thing about such a big race is that I could always look behind me and there were still a lot of people back there, (it makes you feel better if you know your not the last one)!

I started out really strong running the first 6 miles in just over one hour. I had to stop to use the restroom twice on the course, I don't know what the deal was there. I ended up walking only at the aid stations so that I could drink my water or Gatorade and get my GU packs down without sharing it all with my body!

My sister and her two little boys were waiting on the corner as I was leaving Liberty Park so I got to drop my jacket with her and seeing someone cheering me on really boosted my spirits and gave me that little push I needed at that point, (10 miles). When the race turned onto State Street we were at about mile 11. The coolest part of the whole race was when I was passed by a big Army truck that had a big clock on the back and like four photographers in the back and then just behind them, Joseph Mutinda, the man in first place for the Marathon.

That's right I ended up getting passed by four marathoners, but it was by far the most awesome thing to see. They were absolutely incredible to see. He finished the Marathon in 2:16:39 averaging 5:13 minute miles. The second place winner was more than 5 minutes behind him, INCREDIBLE!!!

I walked up the last little bit of State Street until we hit South Temple, (that was quite a hill and at that point everyone was walking). As soon as I got up onto South Temple I only had one more mile to go until the end at Gateway so I just took off, doing the last mile in a little more than 8 minutes and passing at least 50 people.

Finished in: 2:27:50 11:17/avg. per mile
Placed: 424/557 in my age group, 1811/2544 out of all the women and 3189/4125 overall.

That's me on the left in the back with a blue shirt

It was incredible and totally got me excited for the next one where I would like to cut off another 10 to 15 minutes off my time.

My goal is to be ready for the Salt Lake Marathon next year!

The first women marathoner, Nadezda Tuptova.

fAmilY FuN...

Every month the Aguirre side of our family has a big birthday party to celebrate all the birthday's for that month. With 7 kids all married, 22 grand kids and at least 1 more on the way having one big celebration was the only way to go, (other wise we would be at a party every day). It is always loud, always crazy but always a lot of laughter and fun!

The birthday kids opening their gifts.

Happy Birthday Sophia, Livvi and Oliver

Connor, (isn't that the cutest little smile).

The happy still fairly newlyweds, Danny & Jen

Gracie and her best friend and cousin, Oaklie

Nic and Sim

The two oldest grand kids, Rylee and Kaylee

Payton and Braden

John, Jenny and 2 of their 5 kids

{mY ValenTinE}

...isn't he cute!!!

This Valentine's Day was a blast! As usual we could be found with our partners in crime and good friends, Eric and Emily. This year was the boys turn to plan, (I think Emily ended up planning it though), either way it ended up great! Nic wouldn't tell me what we were doing so imagine my surprise when we pulled up to the new Harmon's in Draper. Sounds weird right? Well apparently it is the nicest grocery store I have ever seen and upstairs they have a culinary education center.

So our date was with Chef Bob and about 12 other couples in Harmon's and one of the nicest kitchens I have ever seen. We got to sit back and watch the Chef prepare our meal an then enjoy it! Eric and I were loving all the equipment in that kitchen, especially the $8,000.00 stove/ovens. They were so cool!!! Nic and Emily were teasing us saying they were just going to send Eric and I to this and they were going to go do something else. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love food, making food and especially all the cool gadgets and equipment that go along with that. Needless to say it was right up my ally.

I was pleasantly surprised, but when we are in such good company it is hard to go wrong. Thanks Em and Eric it was a blast! Looks like I am really going to have to start thinking of something awesome for next year!

cute...cute...cute!!!

Look what I made for around $10.00..... Look closely at the many fun types of butterflies...

clouds & pumpkin soup butterflies
a beach

fruit butterfly

a japanese restaraunt

oranges

Ice cream with sprinkles butterfly

Pepperoni & cheese Pizza butterfly

We even have a shark tooth butterfly
and here it is all hung up in Gracie's room!

It was really fun and inexpensive to make. The frame I got with a 50% off coupon at Roberts for $5 and added some black paint to make it look old. I also got the butterfly punch from Micheals with a 50% off coupon for $5. I already had the black mat and pink ribon. All of the butterflies are made out of scraps of paper I already had and adds from a newspaper. It couldn't have been easier. I punched out a bunch of butterflies then let Gracie pick which ones she wanted to use. The hardest part was measuring and spacing them just right on the white paper. Her and Nic both love to look at it and pick out all the funny butterflies they can find.

Thanks Tara, http://thueson.blogspot.com, for posting this as one of the many cute crafts on your list of many!

Happy early birthday to ME!!!

Look what I got yesterday...

It is an early birthday, Christmas gift from my parents. I have been dying for a treadmill. I haven't used it yet but it is pretty sweet looking! It has a hook up for my ipod and speakers. Well, I'm off to try it out. Thanks Dad and Mom!!!

a DaTE!!!

I have an outstanding date for the next 90 days with this....

We will see how that goes, it looks like I will just be mostly crying through most of it!

{wHat A wAy tO saY GooDbYe}

Our trip to Cancun was short but full of fun and friends. We got to see and spend time with all of our great friends that we have made over the years. It is always nice being able to see them outside of the whole summer environment, so much less stressful! We had a lot of fun and hardly sat still for a moment so needless to say I have a million pictures so I will just post them and try to explain as I go...

Our Hotel, Fiesta Americana Condesa















This 'Palapa",(spelling?), was HUGE! The lobby was just inside of it and it was all open, no doors or windows. It was so cool.














The view from our room!!!
















Our good friends, Beth and Ryan. They live in Canada so we rarely get to see them. They brought there two little girls, Hailey and Ava, they were so cute and fun to be with.

The beach just behind our hotel.

Ryan getting his fake tattoo and Hailey getting her hair braided. Pretty cute!

Shopping with the girls!

Okay, these guys were nuts!!

They climb up this pole and then sit on this little square that looked like nothing more than a few 2x4's nailed together and go around in a circle winding up ropes until they are all wound tightly and then.....

....they wrap the end around themselves and start swinging upside down all the way back down. All the while one guy is standing on the top playing a flute and a drum.

The first day we were there we went with our friends Dan and Sofia to some ruins called, Tulum. These ruins were right on a cliff over looking the ocean and it was unbelievably gorgeous!

There were iguanas everywhere, and not just little ones. There were some that were probably at least three feet long.

This building was one of the temples and my favorite. I think I have about 900 pictures just of that building. Everywhere you looked there was a carving or painting.

If you enlarge the pictures you can see the detail a lot better and it is amazing. I don't know why but things like this amaze me. These are the second ruins we have seen, we went to some last year in Belize. I just can't get enough of it!

The crazy photographers APX hired. They followed everyone around taking pictures of everything we did. It was a little weird and it felt a little like the paparazzi.

After our sightseeing of ruins all day we had worked up quite the appetite. We stopped in a town that looked like it was just a little fishing village. It was pretty much all local people, right on the coast. We went to a restaurant that was literally right on the beach. Nic got a lobster that was huge and cheap. I had the biggest shrimp I had ever seen in my life. Also we discovered that before tasting any salsa you should ask how spicy it is. The salsa we were given turned out to be made from Habenero's, only the hottest in the world! It was so yummy. Actually the food was the best part and the fact that we got to share it with friends made it even better.

We had the greatest time and it will not soon be forgotten. It is times like this that will be missed. I couldn't think of a better way to say goodbye to our APX family.